REESE    LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Received        APR  ""  '"'^'^        ,  iS,j    . 
Accessions  No.  ^O  Si  %     Class  No 


^^^< 


'-i'^:.. 


•^.>: 


m^- 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporatio'n 


http://www.archive.org/details/americancaucussyOOIawtrich 


THE   AMERICAN    CAUCUS 
SYSTEM 

ITS  ORIGIN,  PURPOSE  AND  UTILITY 


BY 


GEORGE   W.   LAWTON 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

G.   P.   PUTNAM'S    SONS 
2:t)e  Bnicfecrljocfeer  Xixtss 

1SS5 


t5^'^   .v 


\^'^^^'^ 


rTO  6  3  7^ 

Copyright,  1885 

By  G.  p.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam'' s  Sons 

New  York 


THE 

American   Caucus  System, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ORIGIN  AND  ADOPTION   OF  THE  WORD  "CAUCUS." 

Charles  Sumner  states  he  was  asked  by 
Brougham  in  the  presence  of  Lord  Lyndhurst,  the 
origin  and  meaning  of  '  caucus,'  and  repHed,  ''  It  is 
difficult  to  assign  any  elementary  to  the  word,  but 
the  most  approved  one  referred  its  origin  to  the 
very  town,  and  about  the  time  (1772),  of  his  lord- 
ship's birth." 

It  is  a  tradition  of  the  '  town  '  of  Boston  that 
'  caucus  '  was  a  common  word  there  before  the 
Revolutionary  War  broke  out,  and  that  it  origi- 
nated in  a  feud  between  the  British  troops  on  the 
one  side  and  the  rope-walkers  and  calkers  on 
the  other.  Bloody  collisions,  it  is  said,  occurred 
between  them.  The  latter  held  meetings  in  the 
calkers'  hall  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  at  which 
resolutions  were  adopted  and  speeches  made  de- 
nouncing the  soldiers,  who  on  their  part  deriding 


2  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

the  wordy  war  offered,  sneeringly  dubbed  their 
opponents  '  The  Calkers,'  which  by  an  easy  cor- 
ruption became  '  the  caucus,'  and  finally  a  term  to 
denote  the  meetings. 

But  the  word  was  in  use  prior  to  1770,  the 
time  to  which  the  tradition  refers,  as  may  be  seen 
in  a  passage  from  the  diary  of  John  Adams,  bear- 
ing date  February,  1 764,  and  reading  as  follows  : 
**  This  day  learned  that  the  Caucus  Club  meets  at 
certain  times  in  the  garret  of  Tom  Dawes,  the  ad- 
jutant of  the  Boston  regiment.  He  has  a  large 
house  and  he  has  a  movable  partition  in  his  garret 
which  he  takes  down  and  the  whole  club  meets  in 
one  room.  There  they  smoke  tobacco  till  you  can- 
not see  from  one  end  of  the  garret  to  the  other. 
There  they  drink  flip,  I  suppose,  and  there  they 
choose  a  moderator,  who  puts  questions  to  the 
vote  regularly.  And  selectmen,  assessors,  collect- 
ors, wardens  of  fire-wards  and  representatives  are 
chosen  before  they  are  chosen  at  the  town.  Uncle 
Fairfield,  Story,  Ruddock,  Adams,  Cooper,  and  a 
'  rudis  indigestaque  moles  '  of  others  are  members. 
They  send  committees  to  wait  on  the  Merchants' 
Club,  and  propose  and  join  in  the  choice  of  men 
and  measures.  Captain  Cunningham  says  they 
have  solicited  him  to  these  caucuses.  They  have 
assured  him  benefit  to  his  business." 

Also  the  historian  Gordon,  who  possessed  ample 
opportunity  for  investigation,  in  giving  the  proceed- 


THE  WORD  '' caucus:'  3 

Ings   of   the   General   Court  of   Massachusetts   in 

June,  1774,  says  :  "  Mr.  Sam'l  Adams  observed  that 
some  of  the  committee  were  for  mild  measures 
which  he  judged  no  ways  suited  to  the  present 
emergency.  He  conferred  with  Mr.  Warren,  of 
Plymouth,  upon  the  necessity  of  going  into  spir- 
ited measures  and  then  said  :  '  Do  you  keep  the 
committee  in  play  and  I  will  go  and  make  a  cau- 
cus against  the  evening  and  do  you  meet  me.'  " 

In  a  note  upon  the  passage  the  historian  says  : 
''  The  word  caucus  and  its  derivative,  caucusing,  are 
often  used  in  Boston.     The  last  answers  much  to 
what   we    (English)    style   parliamenteering.     All 
my  repeated  applications  to  different   gentlemen 
have  not  furnished  me  with  a  satisfactory  account 
of  the  origin  of  caucus.     It  seems  to  mean  a  num-V 
ber  of  persons,  whether  more  or  less,  met  together  \ 
to  consult  upon  adopting  and  prosecuting  some  I 
scheme   of   policy  for  carrying    a  favorite    point.  J 
The  word  is  not  a  novel  invention.     More  than 
fifty   years    ago    Mr.    Sam'l    Adams'    father    and 
twenty  others,  one  or  two  from  the  north  side  of 
town  where  all   the  ship  business  .  is  carried  on, 
used  to  meet  and  make  a  caucus  and  lay  plans  for 
introducing  certain  persons  into  places  of  trust  and 
power.     When  they  had  settled  it  they  separated 
and  used  each  their  particular  influence  within  his 
own    circle.      He    and    his    friends    would    furnish 
themselves  with   ballots   including   the   names   of 


4  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

the  parties  fixed  upon,  which  they  distributed  upon 
the  day  of  election.  By  acting  in  concert  together 
with  a  careful  and  extensive  distribution  of  ballots 
they  generally  carried  the  elections  to  their  own 
minds.  In  like  manner  it  was  that  Samuel 
Adams  first  became  a  representative  for  Boston." 

This  was  written  in  1778.  No  further  informa- 
tion as  to  the  origin  of  the  word  seems  to  be  at- 
tainable. The  diary  of  Mr.  John  Adams  above 
quoted  from  is  the  oldest  writing  in  which  it  is 
found.  But  Mr.  Adams  does  not  use  it  as  a  new 
or  strange  word  but  as  one  with  which  he  was  fa- 
miliar. Possibly  it  was  devised  by  some  one  of 
the  Adams  family,  a  people  fruitful  in  ways  and 
means  to  attain  their  ends.  Gordon's  statement,  it 
may  be  observed,  agrees  very  nearly  with  the  ex- 
pression of  Senator  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  made 
during  the  famous  caucus  debate  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  to  which  fuller  reference  will  be 
made,  who  said  :  "  It  [caucus]  was  first  suggested 
by  the  venerable  Samuel  Adams,  or  his  father,  and 
had  Its  origin  in  the  spirit  that  gave  birth  to  this 
nation." 

But  while  the  origin  of  the  word  Is  uncertain,  it 
Is  clear  It  was  not  adopted  into  the  English  lan- 
guage without  opposition,  protests  and  apologies. 
Mr.  Niles  says  of  a  notice  entitled  *  Caucus,'  In- 
serted In  the  Register  In  1820  by  the  Chairman  of 
the  Republican  Committee  of  the  congress,  ''  We 


THE  WORD  '' caucus:' 


5 


are  sorry  to  see  this  awkward  word  naturalized  by 
a  semi-official  publication  by  a  member  of  Con- 
gress." 

In  1823  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  and  sent  them  to  the  govern- 
ors of  the  several  states,  to  bring  about  concert  of 
action  in  opposition  to  the  practice  that  had  held 
from  Jefferson's  day,  of  members  of  Congress  meet- 
ing in  caucus  and  nominating  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  The  scholarly  and  critical  governor 
of  Georgia,  Throop,  whose  literary  tastes  were 
doubtless  formed  by  Addison  and  his  Spectator, 
was  offended  at  this  intrusion  of  the  word  caucus 
into  a  legislative  act  by  Tennessee,  and  improved 
the  occasion  in  his  message  transmitting  the  reso- 
lutions to  the  Legislature  of  his  own  state  to  con- 
demn its  use.  "•  The  paper  purports,"  he  says,  "  to 
be  a  formal  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  and 
its  object  the  denunciation  of  what  it  pleases  to 
call  a  '  caucus  '  which  may  possibly  be  held  at  the 
city  of  Washington  by  members  of  Congress  for 
election  purposes.  What  precise  and  definite 
meaning  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee  designs  to 
attach  to  the  word  'caucus'  I  cannot  conceive.  It 
is  not  an  English  word.  It  is  not  to  be  found  in 
our  dictionary,  and  being  an  uncouth  word  and  of 
harsh  sound  I  hope  it  never  may.  It  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  constitution  and  laws  of  Tennessee, 


6  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

and  being  a  mere  abstract  conception  cannot  be- 
come a  subject  of  legislation  at  all." 

During  the  agitation  in  the  country  over  the 
matter  referred  to  by  the  Tennessee  Legislature, 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  were  drawn  into  a 
discussion  of  the  word  upon  a  remark  made  by 
Senator  King,  of  New  York,  who  is  reported  to 
have  said,  *'  My  attention  has  been  most  powerfully 
attracted  by  a  power  which  has  risen  up,  which 
appears  to  me  so  terrific  that  I  dare  hardly  to  con- 
template the  effect  it  may  produce  :  I  mean  the 
power  which  members  of  Congress  have  assumed 
of  nominating  a  president  of  the  United  States." 
Upon  this  the  discussion  was  taken  up  by  other 
senators  and  it  soon  became  general  and  finally 
not  a  little  heated,  during  which  some  one  let  fall 
the  word  which  was  in  every  senator's  mind  but 
which  was  scrupulously  tabooed  their  lips.  Without 
doubt  the  word  falling  on  the  ears  of  the  fervent 
debators  was  thrown  about  as  a  dead  cat  is  hurled 
by  reckless  schoolboys  around  their  playground, 
until  some  one,  more  mindful  of  proprieties  than  of 
the  rough  sport,  points  out  the  offensiveness  of  the 
thing,  when  all  cease,  and  wiping  their  fingers 
affect  not  to  have  touched  it.  So  here  upon  the 
suggestion  of  a  senator  all  at  once  thoughtful  of 
the  dignity  of  the  body  he  honored,  the  main 
debate  was  interrupted  and  the  inquiry  turned 
upon    the  question  who  first  uttered  '  caucus '  in 


THE   WORD  "  CA  UCUSr  y 

their  presence.  Mr.  Holmes  charged  the  breach 
directly  upon  Mr.  King,  saying,  *'  The  first  use  of 
the  word  came  from  the  senator  from  New  York." 
Mr.  King  promptly  denied  this  with  some  warmth. 
Finally,  after  various  exculpations  Mr.  Haynes  of 
South  Carolina  brought  it  home  to  the  veteran 
senator  Mr.  Smith,  of  Maryland,  who  replied  :  *'  I 
am  unwilling  that  the  discussion  of  a  subject  so 
unprofitable  that  I  am  mortified  at  its  being  intro- 
duced, and  so  little  comporting  with  the  dignity  of 
the  Senate,  should  be  attributed  to  me.  I  regret 
that  the  honorable  senator  from  New  York  should 
have  deemed  it  proper  to  introduce  it.  It  is  true 
he  qualified  it  by  a  new  name,  '  central  power.' 
However,  either  my  ear  deceived  me  or  I  heard 
him  use  the  word  caucus,  and  one  member  oppo- 
site took  it  down.  But  whether  he  did  or  not  his 
meaning  was  perfectly  understood,  and  if  I  used  it 
I  used  it  because  I  wished  to  give  it  the  known 
name.     I  wished  to  call  a  spade  a  spade." 

But  all  opposition  to  or  delicacy  in  the  use  of 
the  word  has  with  time  disappeared  in  the  United 
States  and  it  has  found  its  way  to  foreign  lands. 
Even  the  walls  of  Parliament  have  echoed  it.  But 
occasionally  an  ear  can  be  found  that  it  offends. 
A  writer  recently  in  the  London  Times,  referring 
to  what  had  been  called  a  caucus  of  politicians  held 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  objected  to  its 
being  called  a  caucus,  and  remarks,  ''  Caucus  is  by 


8  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

no  means  a  pretty  word,  much  less  a  sensible  one, 
to  be  added  to  our  national  vocabulary.  But  if  it 
be  adopted  at  all  let  us  make  a  right  use  of  it,  that 
is,  not  to  apply  it  to  an  open  but  to  a  secret  meet- 
ing." The  assumption  that  the  word  applies  exclu- 
sively to  a  secret  meeting  is  wrong.  Such  is  not 
its  sole  use  in  this  country,  nor  was  it  as  early  as 
1789,  when  a  local  satirist  in  the  line 

"  That  mob  of  mobs  a  caucus  to  command," 

applies  it  to  a  very  open  and  promiscuous  gather- 
ing. Whether  the  word  be  a  corruption  of  calk- 
ers  or  derived  from  some  guttural  tones  of  the 
Indian  tongue  with  which  the  elder  Adams  may 
have  been  familiar  cannot  certainly  be  determined 
now.  But  in  popular  speech  its  meaning  and  use 
possess  no  disturbing  uncertainty,  and  that,  it  may 
be  remarked,  is  the  chief  use  of  language. 


CHAPTER 


MEN    CHOOSE    TO    BE    CONTROLLED    BY    POLITICAL  ] 
POWER    AND    TO   BEAR    ITS    BURDENS.  j 

Senator  Barbour's  opinion  that  the  caucus  was 
first  suggested  by  a  member  of  the  Adams  family 
and  had  its  origin  in  the  spirit  that  gave  birth  to 
the  American  independence,  gives  more  credit  to 
that  father  of  the  republic  than  is  claimed  for  him 
by  his  family.  Certainly  the  origin  of  the  system 
may  be  traced,  though  not  the  word  itself,  in  the 
laws  that  govern  political  action  far  back  of  the 
birth  of  American  governments,  or  of  the  discov- 
ery even  of  the  continents  they  dominate. 

The  proposition  that  men  choose  to  be  controlled 
by  political  power  and  bear  its  burdens  is  assur- 
edly manifest.  For  however  much  men  may  in- 
sist upon  personal  freedom  and  that  they  are  not 
the  subjects  of  another,  yet  true  it  is,  when  left  to 
themselves  they  habitually  choose  to  become  mem- 
bers of  a  political  community  and  amenable  to  its 
behests. 

In  the  fable,  the  frogs  beseech  Jupiter  to  send 
them  a  king.  These  creatures  could  live  and  pad- 
dle in   the  waters  of   the    pond,  given    them    for 

9 


lO  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

their  home,  restrained  if  at  all  in  their  enjoyment  of 
life  only  by  laws  exactly  adapted  to  their  welfare 
and  existence.  Nevertheless  they  were  discon- 
tented and  desired  to  choose  for  themselves,  and 
asked  for  a  king. 

Jupiter  throws  them  a  log.  At  first  there  is  the 
excitement  of  fear.  The  frogs  diving  out  of  sight 
scatter  from  its  presence,  but  soon  reappearing 
swim  about  the  log,  and  finally  mount  and  sit  con- 
temptuously upon  it.  Again  their  voices  go  up  to 
Jupiter  for  a  king,  a  real  king.  Jupiter  listens 
to  the  prayer,  and  to  punish  them  for  their  folly 
sends  them  a  stork,  which  ate  many  of  them. 

This  fable  indicates  the  tendency  of  men  and 
warns  against  its  development. 

The  elders  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  to- 
gether and  came  to  Samuel,  saying,  *'  Now  make  us 
a  king  to  judge  us  like  all  nations."  The  enormity 
of  this  request,  coming  from  Israel,  the  freest  na- 
tion— a  nation  of  republics,  indeed — in  existence, 
was  inconceivably  great.  The  God  of  Samuel  had 
fashioned  them  a  peculiar  people,  had  directed  all 
their  steps,  from  Bethel  in  Canaan  to  their  abode 
in  the  fat  pastures  of  Goshen,  had  sustained  them 
through  all  their  tribulations  in  Egypt,  and  had  ul- 
timately brought  them  up  out  of  a  bondage  so 
dark  and  helpless,  that  their  sons  therein,  as  they 
came  into  the  world,  were  strangled  by  their  mas- 
ters' midwives,  to  prevent  an  increase,  with  no  re- 


MEN  CONTROLLED  BY  POLITICAL  POWER.  1 1 

lief  for  Israel,  unless  found  in  cunning  or  evasion, 
and  no  mercy,  unless  found  in  sedgy  waters  and 
sheltering  bulrushes,  to  be  again  a  free  people  in 
ancient  Canaan,  possessed  of  spirit  to  stand  for 
their  offspring  sword  in  hand  if  need  be.  The 
prophet  was  grieved  at  the  request,  but  yielded 
to  the  express  command  of  Jehovah,  who  said  to 
him — 

*'They  have  not  rejected  'thee'  but  'me'  that 
*  I '  should  not  rule  over  them.  Now  show  them 
the  manner  of  the  king  that  shall  rule  over  them." 

''  He  will  take  your  sons  to  be  his  horsemen  ;  he 
will  take  your  daughters  to  be  his  cooks  ;  he  will 
take  your  fields,  your  vineyards  and  olive-yards, 
even  the  best  of  them,  and  give  them  to  his  eu- 
nuchs. He  will  take  the  tenth  of  your  sheep  and 
ye  shall  be  his  servants."  Nevertheless  the  people 
insisted,  and  said :  ''  But  we  will  have  a  king 
over  us,"  and  gathering  together  at  Mizpah  they 
cast  lots  and  Saul  was  chosen.  Thus  deliber- 
ately was  their  freedom  bartered  for  the  rule  of  a 
king.  The  act  made  a  deadly  change  in  the  polity 
of  Israel  never  retrieved. 

Since  Mizpah  what  contest  have  men  waged  with 
greater  persistency  than  this,  '  to  establish  a  gov- 
ernment for  themselves,  of  themselves,  by  them- 
selves,' free  from  the  tyranny  Mizpah  warns  them 
shall  be  the  manner  of  it  ?  A  continuous  struggle, 
the  best  minds,  the  bravest  hearts  and  a  long  sue- 


12  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

cession  of  prophets  and  Samuels  have  fallen  mar- 
tyrs In  it.  The  people  shout  and  lift  the  yoke  to 
their  shoulders,  but  immediately  commence  the 
struggle  to  throw  it  off  again.  Their  blood  is 
shed,  their  sons  and  daughters,  their  vineyards 
and  olive-yards  are  demanded  and  given  up,  the 
power  they  have  installed  exhausts  them  either  to 
maintain  or  to  overthrow.  So  history  reads  from 
Mizpah  to  this  day.  It  is  the  government  estab- 
lished and  the  exactions  and  sacrifices  demanded 
by  it  and  fought  against  that  makes  the  history. 
Every  nation  as  It  grows  towards  freedom  repeats 
the  sad  refrain.  In  the  freest  it  is  the  cause  of 
their  political  contests  though  never  so  bloodless. 

Turn  now  from  the  exemplifying  history  of  a 
race  made  unancestral  by  its  law  of  circumcision  to 
that  of  an  ancestral  people  whose  blood  flows  in 
English  veins — ^athletic  barbarians,  whose  yellow 
hair  and  flaming  blue  eyes  were  the  admiration  of 
the  swarthy  black-eyed  soldiery  of  Italy.  Tacitus 
says  they  inhabited  Germany,  a  country  so  inhos- 
pitable In  climate,  aspect  and  soil  that  few  visited 
it,  and  no  one  would  desert  benignant  Italy  to 
dwell  therein  unless  it  was  his  native  land.  These 
barbarians  had  their  political  customs,  among  which 
was,  at  stated  periods,  chosen  in  the  full  of  the 
moon,  to  get  together  and  elect  rulers  for  them- 
selves and  debate  the  weightier  matters  of  common 
concern.      The    historian    says  they  acquired  the 


MEN  CONTROLLED  BY  POLITICAL  POWER. 


13 


vice, '^growing  out  of  their  excessive  freedom,  of 
consuming  several  days  in  going  to  these  assembUes, 
and  going  not  as  men  obeying  a  summons  thither, 
but  as  men  who  go  of  their  own  will.  They  also 
went  armed,  and  sat  in  convention  with  their  weap- 
ons in  hand.  The  debates  were  opened  by  the 
chief  and  most  noted  warriors  and  continued  by 
those  having  a  reputation  for  sagacity  and  others 
skilful  in  debate.  The  audience  listened  with 
great  frankness,  not  to  say  impressiveness.  If  the 
sentiments  of  the  speaker  pleased,  they  clashed 
their  arms  together  or  beat  upon  their  shields.  If 
displeasing  they  spurned  them  by  uttering  a  "  short 
and  broken  roar,"  and  that  their  voices  might  swell 
fuller  and  harsher  by  the  repercussion  they  placed 
their  shields  above  their  faces — practices  that 
have  descended  with  their  blood  to  their  children, 
the  English  and  American  law-making  yeomanry  ; 
somewhat  modified  perhaps,  but  bearing  those  an- 
cestral marks. 

The  times  of  King  Alfred  might  be  drawn  upon 
for  illustrations  of  this  subject,  but  other  records 
will  prove  of  greater  pertinence. 

Mild  Roger  Williams,  in  1636,  fled  from  the  per- 
secuting power  of  the  government  of  Massachu- 
sett's  Bay  and  found  refuge  on  an  island  in  the 
Narragansett.  Yet  the  men  who  appointed  that 
persecuting  power  were  themselves  fugitives  from 
tyranny.     But  now  the  banished  Roger  and  his  co- 


14  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

sojourners  on  the  islands  and  mainland  of  their 
secluded  retreat,  likewise  set  up  a  state  and  install 
a  ruler  among  them,  as  the  following  entry  in  the 
earliest  records  of  Rhode  Island  discloses  : 

''  April  2>'^dy  1636. — We  whose  names  are  under 
written  doe  acknowledge  ourselves  the  loyal  sub- 
jects of  his  Majestye,  King  Charles,  and  in  his  name 
doe  hereby  binde  ourselves  into  a  body  politick 
unto  his  laws  according  to  matters  of  justice." 
(Signed)  Wm.  Hutchinson,  George  Lawton,  and 
twenty  odd  others,  men  who  preferred  the  un- 
broken wilderness  of  America  to  the  manner  of 
the  kingdom  Charles  the  First  ruled  and  wherein 
they  were  born.  But  they  have  scarcely  erected 
shelters,  much  needed  for  their  travel-worn  bodies, 
when  they  face  about  and  solemnly  acknowledge 
themselves  ''loyal  subjects  to  his  Majesty,"  and 
bind  themselves  unto  his  laws,  the  British  Consti- 
tution, and  the  customs  of  his  realm,  with  the 
reservation,  however,  ''according  to  matters  of 
justice." 

Had  not  these  men  learned  from  boyhood  that 
perfect  security  for  their  sons  and  daughters,  their 
fields  and  vineyards,  rested  beneath  the  British 
Constitution,  and  that  the  common  law  was  won- 
derfully and  subtly  adapted  to  give  the  very  right  to 
high  and  low,  and  that  next  to  the  Lord's  Prayer 
the  best  was  the  prayer  of  the  pleading  suitor  in 
" his  Majesty's  High  Court  of  Chancery"?     Had 


MEN  CONTROLLED  BY  POLITICAL  POWER.  j  ^ 

not  this  been  dinned  into  their  ears  from  the 
cradle  ?  And  yet  must  they,  when  about  to  affirm 
an  allegiance  nearly  severed,  feel  it  should  be  done 
with  the  qualification  ''according  to  matters  of 
justice  "  ?  Did  the  place,  the  primeval  forest,  the 
smiling  waters  of  the  bay,  the  wild  men,  wonder- 
ing spectators  of  the  scene,  and  whose  freedom 
they  spurned,  suggest  the  limitation  ? 

And  further,  the  record  discloses,  '*  According 
to  the  true  intent  of  the  foregoing  instrument,  we 
whose  names  are  particularly  recorded  do  agree, 
jointly  or  by  the  major  voice,  to  govern  ourselves 
by  the  ruler  or  judge  amongst  us  in  all  transac- 
tions for  the  space  of  one  year,  he  behaving  him- 
self according  to  the  tenor  of  the  same."  Thus, 
while  submitting  themselves  to  a  judge  or  ruler, 
to  be  chosen  jointly  or  by  the  major  voice,  they 
have  thoughtfully  included  a  check  upon  his  con- 
duct and  powers.  The  prophecy  of  Mizpah,  visi- 
ble in  the  history  of  every  nation,  lies  before  them, 
and  they  would  circumvent  it.  Their  ruler  shall 
not  take  their  sons  and  daughters,  their  olive-yards 
and  vineyards,  but  shall  behave  himself  ''accord- 
ing to  matters  of  justice."  A  very  human  inven- 
tion and  carefully  inaugurated,  and  in  latter  times 
developed  throughout  the  United  States  w^ith 
greater  particularity  in  written  constitutions,  more 
or  less  exhaustive  and  code-like,  and  by  experi- 
ential legislation. 


1 6  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

Having  guarded  themselves  against  misconduct 
on  the  part  of  their  ruler,  they  proceed  to  his  elec- 
tion, and  yearly  thereafter  the  record  reads,  ''  We 

have  freely  made  choice  of  to  be  ruler  or 

judge  among  us;"  and  they  choose  assistant 
judges  for  the  ''help  and  ease"  of  conducting  the 
public  business.  They  come  together  in  town- 
meeting,  now  so  general  in  the  United  States,  and 
discuss  and  legislate  of  their  affairs  thereat.  One 
of  the  acts  of  Providence  township  reads  :  ''  It  is 
agreed  by  the  towne-meeting  that  after  warning 
given  to  come  to  towne-meeting  that  whoever  be 
wanting  above  one  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the 
time  appointed  by  him  that  gave  the  warning 
shall  pay  the  towne  for  every  such  default  one 
shilling  and  sixpence." 

This  stringent  legislation,  requiring  each  mem- 
ber of  the  community  not  only  to  attend  the  town- 
meeting,  but  also  not  be  wanting  there  above  fif- 
teen minutes  after  the  time  set  for  holding  the 
same,  is  a  departure  from  the  practice  of  the  Teu- 
tonic forefather,  upon  whose  analogous  meetings 
no  promptness  of  attendance  was  enforced,  but 
delay  of  proceedings  was  allowed  to  accommodate 
a  want  of  promptness,  indulged  in  that  it  might 
appear  they  came  at  the  will  of  no  other  man, 
which  Tacitus  says  was  a  vicious  practice. 

The  town-meeting  was  the  great  wheel  that  set 
all  the  machinery  of  the  New-World  governments 


MEN  CONTROLLED  BY  POLITICAL  POWER. 


17 


in  motion ;  and  it  was  all-important,  in  order  to 
get  the  full  benefit  of  the  meeting,  that  the  atten- 
dance of  the  citizen  should  be  secured. 

It  was  a  political  exaction.  The  body  ''  politic" 
demanded  it,  and  determined,  without  pausing  to 
accommodate  the  convenience  of  the  citizen,  that  it 
should  be  observed  or  punishment  follow.  It  may 
not  have  worked  great  grievance  to  assert  this 
power  against  a  man  who  had  elected  to  be  one 
of  the  body  politic,  and  who  in  harmony  with  it 
should  accept  his  portion  of  the  accompanying  ex- 
actions, even  to  the  yielding  up  his  liberty.  But 
the  infant  state  exercised  other  exacting  powers, 
as  is  further  disclosed  from  the  records  of  Provi- 
dence township.  **It  was  agreed  that  Joshua 
Verein,  upon  a  breach  of  covenant  for  restraining 
of  liberty  of  conscience,  shall  be  withheld  from  the 
libertie  of  voting  till  he  shall  declare  the  contra- 
rie."  Here  a  member  of  the  community  is  disfran- 
chised, one  who,  public  policy  requires,  shall  actu- 
ally attend  and  not  be  wanting  at  the  town-meet- 
ing above  fifteen  minutes  after  the  time  set,  or  be 
depleted  in  basket  and  store. 

Ah,  then,  Joshua,  who  fled  from  England  to 
Salem  and  from  Salem  to  the  Narragansett  wil- 
derness for  *'  conscience'  sake,"  has  for  infringing 
upon  it,  himself  become  an  object  of  civil  disci- 
pline !  But  what  was  his  offence  ?  The  record 
says   he  forbid  his  wife   going  so    often    as   she 


1 8  THE  AMERICAN  CA  UCUS  S YSTEM. 

wished,  to  hear  Roger  Williams  preach.  Indeed, 
this  Joshua,  after  all  his  fleeings  and  sufferings, 
passes  into  history  a  tyrant  over  conscience.  No 
matter  if  he  honestly  thought,  and  could  have 
shown  his  good  wife  neglected  the  mending  and 
the  dairy  to  sit  under  the  soul-instructive  moni- 
tion of  the  zealous  Roger,  he  grievously  misjudged 
"  libertie  of  conscience"  in  forbidding  her  to  hear 
as  many  of  the  great  preachers  sermons  as  she 
hungered  for,  and  now  he  feels  the  heavy  arm  of 
the  body  politic  for  his  error  ! ! 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  detain  the  reader  fur- 
ther on  this  point.  What  has  been  noticed,  clearly 
illustrates  the  tendency  of  men  to  submit  them- 
selves voluntarily  to  political  rule  with  all  the  ex- 
actions attendant  upon  it.  It  is  said  they  do  so, 
partly  from  distrust  of  themselves  and  for  the  ben- 
efits derived  within  the  rules  established  and  en- 
forced by  the  body  politic  for  its  own  maintenance 
and  for  the  sake  of  good  order.  The  fact  Is,  it  is 
the  return,  the  groping  for  the  ruler  rejected  at 
Mizpah. 

The  organization  of  the  plantations  of  Rhode 
Island,  being  peculiar  and  of  a  spontaneous  nature, 
seems  to  illustrate  the  law  referred  to  very  clearly. 
As  a  general  rule  the  American  Colonies  were 
founded  under  charters  granted  by  the  King  of 
Great  Britain,  with  a  government  organized  in  ad- 
vance of  actual  settlement,  and  there  was  no  direct 


MEN  CONTROLLED  BY  POLLTICAL  POWER.  19 

break  in  authority  in  their  cases.  Even  the  Ply- 
mouth Colony  cannot  properly  be  said  to  be  in  all 
respects  an  exception  to  the  rule.  Besides,  it  was 
composed  of  a  body  of  co-religionists  with  a  sys- 
tem of  church  government  in  force  among  them, 
and  when  they  touched  the  bleak  shores  of  Ply- 
mouth Bay,  and  before  debarking  from  the  May- 
flower, they  executed  a  written  compact,  ''  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,"  and  ''the  better  ordering,  preservation 
and  furtherance  of  the  ends  thereof,"  in  which  we 
may  also  read,  *'we  do  covenant  and  combine  our- 
selves together  into  a  body  politic,"  and  "  by 
virtue  hereof  enact,  constitute  and  frame  just  and 
equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and  of- 
fices from  time  to  time  as  shall  be  thought  most 
convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony, 
unto  which  we  promise  all  submission  and  obedi- 
ence." And  they  chose  John  Carver  their  gov- 
ernor for  one  year. 

These  people  constituted  a  homogeneous  body, 
and  may  be  said  to  have  merely  drawn  over  them- 
selves again  the  covering  of  civil  authority  slipped 
off  in  their  migrations  about  the  continents.  Their 
last  act  while  within  the  discipline  of  a  British 
ship  was  to  enter  Into  and  subscribe  the  compact 
above  quoted  from,  and  therefore  It  may  not  be 
said  with  as  much  truth  that  all  civil  government 
had  in  their  case  been  broken  away  from  as  in  that 
of  the  settlers  of  Rhode  Island.     As  to  them,  no 


20  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

common  bond,  not  even  that  of  a  common  relig- 
ious belief,  brought  them  together.  They  were 
fugitives  and  stragglers  from  other,  to  them,  op- 
pressive governments,  seeking  by  the  peaceful 
waters  of  the  Narragansett  the  freedom  they 
prized  above  all  hardships.  Quakers  hated  and 
persecuted,  Immersionists  openly  reviled,  Roman 
Catholics  and  churchmen  stigmatized  as  followers 
of  the  scarlet  woman,  men  of  no  fixed  religious  be- 
lief, all  found  their  way  thither  unattended  or  in 
small  groups,  because  they  were  not  tolerated  or 
were  unhappy  in  the  settled  portions  of  the  Old 
and  New  World,  and  helped  to  form  a  new  state. 
And  the  settlements  planted  in  the  wilderness  no 
sooner  numbered  a  score  or  two  of  inhabitants 
each,  when,  lo  !  they  are  moved,  to  form  a  body 
politic  and  to  govern  themselves  by  the  ruler  or 
judge  chosen  from  their  number.  The  govern- 
ment these  people  instituted  was  not  modelled 
after  any  known  government  existing,  or  in  history. 
No  allusion  is  made  to  the  Bible,  since  they  disa- 
gree among  themselves  as  to  its  interpretation,  and 
even  as  to  its  sacredness ;  but  its  cardinal  teach- 
ing is  the  corner-stone  they  select  to  build  upon. 
The  ruler  they  choose  must  behave  himself  accord- 
ing to  matters  of  justice.  With  this  as  their  rock 
they  erect  a  state  and  declare  themselves — weak  as 
they  are  in  numbers,  wealth  and  experience  in  af- 
fairs— a  body  politic,  and  maintain  that  position 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  stirring  history. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    DIRECTION    OF    POLITICAL    POWER    IS    WITH    THE 

CAUCUS. 

The  towns  mentioned  so  frequently  in  the  early 
history  of  New  England  were  in  the  main  portions 
of  the  great  wilderness  occupied  by  venturesome 
individuals,  who  asserted  title  thereto  of,  perhaps, 
an  illusory  character,  but  which  generally,  if  not 
sustained  by  purchase  or  gift  from  the  Indians,  had 
at  least  the  might  of  the  stronger  arm  for  its  pro- 
tection. But  whatever  the  title  to  the  soil  may 
have  been,  these  settlements  rapidly  increased  in 
numbers,  and  each  speedily  organized  itself  into  a 
body  politic,  the  better  to  manage  its  internal 
affairs,  which,  as  already  noted,  was  through  a  gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  residents  of  the  territory  em- 
braced, and  over  which  was  exercised  an  entire 
dominion,  as  the  following  further  entry  in  the 
Rhode  Island  records  illustrate : 

''  It  was  agreed  that  William  Carpenter  and 
Mary  Sweet  should  pay,  in  consideration  of  ground 
at  present  granted  unto  them,  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  apiece.  And  also  Edward  Cope,  five 
shillings    and    sixpence.       Item,    that    all    future 

21 


22 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


comers,  upon  the  grant  of  like  portion  of  ground, 
unto  them  for  their  home,  each  shall  pay  one  shil- 
ling and  sixpence.  It  was  agreed  that  two  men 
should  be  deputed  to  view  the  lumber  on  the  com- 
mon, and  that  such  as  have  occasion  to  use  lumber 
should  repair  unto  them  for  their  advice  and  coun- 
sel to  fell  timber  for  their  use." 

These  gatherings  of  the  people  early  took  the 
name  of  ''  town-meetings,"  and  have  been  the 
theme  of  constant  eulogy  by  their  own  and  other 
historians,  and  especially  by  the  ever  recurring 
theoretical  writer.  Grave  judges  also  in  American 
courts  of  last  resort,  probing  for  a  solid  bottom  on 
which  to  rest  their  decrees  against  threatened  po- 
litical concentration  or  aggressive  corporate  claims, 
made  on  the  strength  of  legislative  grants,  have 
found  here  the  desired  rock.  And  without  doubt 
about  all  there  is  left  to  the  people  of  pure  democ- 
racy in  the  United  States — a  kind  of  government 
inherited  from  the  tribal  condition,  traces  of  which 
may  yet  be  shown  in  Old  England — exists  in  the 
town-meeting. 

But  governments  simple  as  town-meetings  could 
serve  only  on  limited  territory,  and  with  no  external 
matters  of  moment  pressing  upon  their  attention. 
They  gave  rise  speedily  to  the  more  effective  rep- 
resentative form  of  government,  which  is  indeed 
the  necessary  outgrowth  of,  but  not  original  with, 
communities    of   a   homogeneous    democratic    na- 


DIRE C TION  OF  POLITICAL  PO  WER.  2  3 

ture.  All  nations  have  resorted  to  representa- 
tion in  their  affairs,  and  these  colonists  were  by 
history  and  some  knowledge  of  its  practice  in  the 
British  Islands  informed  about  it.  The  famous 
Amphyctionic  council  in  the  Doric  states  of  Greece, 
as  is  known,  was  composed  of  deputies  or  repre- 
sentatives sent  from  each  of  the  cities  and  tribes 
composing  the  league,  and  among  the  powers  pos- 
sessed by  these  deputies  was  that  of  voting  de- 
crees and  regulations  applicable  to  the  league 
generally. 

But  the  oldest  representative  governmental  as- 
sembly known  in  history,  the  incomparable  states- 
man, Moses,  hiding  his  face  before  the  burning 
bush,  was  directed  to  summon  in  Egypt.  Much 
has  been  said  and  written  in  defence  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  drawn  from  the  anointing  of  Saul 
prior  to  his  election  by  the  people  at  Mizpah. 
But  the  record  of  the  summoning  together  a  rep- 
resentative political  body  to  constitute  the  civil 
authority  of  the  several  tribes  and  families  that 
made  up  Israel,  long  antedates  the  choice  of  Saul. 
It  also  possesses  the  distinguishing  feature  of  hav- 
ing originated  with  Jehovah,  and  is  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment powerless  to  steal  the  hearts  of  the 
people  away  from  him  and  commit  them  to  idola- 
try, as  too  often  the  other  forms  proved  capable 
of  doing.  Nor  is  the  command  to  Moses  coupled 
with  the  announcement  that  a  flood  of  evils  would 


24 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


accompany  a  compliance  therewith,  as  was  the  ac- 
quiescence of  Jehovah  in  the  election  of  a  king  at 
Mizpah,  but  on  the  contrary,  blessings  and  a  great 
future  are  given  it,  a  feature  too  important  to 
have  been  undesigned.  *'  Go  and  gather,"  is  the 
command,  **  the  elders  of  Israel  together,  and  say 
to  them  I  will  bring  you  out  of  the  affliction  of 
Egypt  into  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey." 
"  And  Moses  and  Aaron  went  and  gathered  to- 
gether all  the  elders  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
Aaron  laid  before  them  the  message  the  Lord  had 
spoken  unto  Moses." 

That  this  was  purely  a  representative  assembly 
admits  of  no  doubt.  The  Jews  at  that  time  num- 
bered over  two  millions.  They  had  sprung  centu- 
ries before  from  the  loins  of  twelve  brothers. 
They  were  not  a  nation  ;  they  were  a  people  di- 
vided into  twelve  parts,  each  part  or  tribe  choos- 
ing, by  some  regulation  of  a  democratic  nature, 
men  to  look  after  their  affairs,  who  were  called 
elders.  These  men,  by  the  efforts  of  Moses  and 
Aaron,  were  assembled  together  to  determine 
whether  the  twelve  tribes  should  break  away  from 
Egypt, — the  land  that  had  been  the  home  of  their 
race  for  generations  and  where  they  all  were  born, 
— and  to  go  to  distant  Canaan  and  expel  by  force 
of  arms  the  nations  inhabiting  it,  according  to  the 
message  laid  before  them.  Certainly  that  was  a 
remarkable  duty,  and  cast  upon  no  prince  or  king, 


DIRECTION  OF  POLITICAL  POWER. 


25 


but  upon  the  representatives  of  millions  of  men. 
They  met  and  considered  the  message  *and  gave 
their  consent.  Moses  sought  Pharaoh  and  per- 
mission from  him  to  depart  into  the  desert.  Sub- 
sequently, in  the  wilderness,  the  Jews  were  more 
perfectly  organized  into  a  nation  preserving  the 
representative  form  of  government,  which  was 
made  still  more  perfect  upon  the  allotment  of 
Canaan  to  the  different  tribes  under  Joshua. 

A  representative  government  not  being  new  nor 
strange  to  American  colonists,  they  adopt  it  and 
form  a  General  Court  by  representatives  chosen 
from  the  several  towns,  who  confined  themselves 
to  such  matters  as  concerned  the  communities  at 
large. 

But  with  the  election  of  persons  to  office  came 
the  necessity  of  making  choice  of  the  man,  and 
with  that  came  also  the  need  of  concentration 
prior  to  balloting  for  the  one  selected. 

Mr.  Hildreth,  in  his  history  of  the  United  States, 
mentions  that,  at  the  May  election  in  the  Ply- 
mouth Colony  in  1635,  the  deputies  from  the 
several  towns  came  together  the  day  before  and 
agreed  upon  Haynes  for  governor,  who  was  duly 
chosen.  This,  the  historian  says,  is  the  first  in- 
stance of  the  caucus  system  on  record,  and  adds, 
that  the  proceeding  offended  Ludlow,  who,  on 
account  of  it,  called  the  validity  of  the  election 
in    question.     Whereupon    the  citizens  retaliated 


26  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

by  electing  Billingham  instead  of  Ludlow  for  dep- 
uty governor.  But  the  historian  is  in  error  in  as- 
suming that  was  the  first  instance  of  the  caucus 
system  on  record,  for  we  have  only  to  turn  to 
the  ancient  record  already  freely  drawn  upon — 
which,  as  it  is  the  oldest  and  ablest  history  of 
human  affairs,  is  both  an  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive study — to  find  an  instance  of  the  use  of  the 
caucus  system  as  it  is  now  called,  and  a  political 
campaign  directed  by  it,  with  all  the  accessories  so 
well  known  and  used  in  modern  times  by  politi- 
cians to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  which  also 
offended  the  defeated  aspirant,  who  protested  by 
an  aptly  illustrative  allegory. 

Abimelech,  one  of  the  many  sons  of  Gideon, 
desired  the  judgeship  vacated  by  the  death  of  his 
father.  He  had  no  special  fitness  for  the  place, 
or  reason  to  expect  the  office.  But,  determined 
to  possess  it,  he  applied  himself  to  that  end  with 
all  the  arts  of  a  modern  demagogue  and  self- 
seeker.  He  was  one  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh, 
and  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  secure  a  follow- 
ing among  the  Shechemites.  Whereupon,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  kinship  of  his  mother,  who 
was  a  Shechemite,  he  went  to  Shechem,  and 
''  communed,"  made  a  caucus,  with  her  brethren 
and  all  the  family  of  his  mother's  father,  to  in- 
duce them  to  solicit  votes  for  him  in  that  city. 

An   instance  of  a  powerful   family  meeting  in 


DIRECTION  OF  POLITICAL  POWER. 


27 


caucus  is  related  by  Hammond  in  his  political  his- 
tory of  New  York.  Speaking  of  the  Livingstons, 
who  were  originally  zealous  Federalists,  but  w^ho 
opposed  General  Hamilton,  he  says  :  **The  family, 
one  evening  in  1790,  had  a  meeting  for  the  pur- 
pose of  deliberating  on  the  subject,  and  the  result 
was  that  the  next  morning  every  one  of  them  took 
his  stand  as  a  Republican." 

Abimelech  was  not  less  successful  with  the 
family  of  his  mother,  and  of  his  ''  mother's  father." 
Their  jealousy  of  others,  and  the  promise  of  place 
and  power  under  his  administration,  were  then  as 
now  effective.  The  Scripture  represents  Abime- 
lech clinching  his  proposals  with,  ''  Remember,  I  am 
of  your  bone  and  flesh  " — the  stock  argument  of 
promise  and  division  used  from  his  day  to  this  by 
all  such  aspirants.  Suffice  that  Abimelech  secured 
an  advantageous  following,  men  who  not  only 
solicited,  button-holed  the  Shechemites  and  "  in- 
clined "  them  unto  him,  but  who  also  secured  a 
campaign  fund  by  an  assessment  of  three  hundred 
shekels,  with  which  he  hired  '\  vain  and  light 
persons  " — secured  the  floating  vote — to  follow 
him.  A  very  thoroughly  worked  canvass  from  bot- 
tom up,  a  modern  politician  would  say  ;  and  when 
the  people  assembled  by  the  pillar  that  was  in 
Shechem,  Abimelech  received  their  suffrages  and 
was  elected.  But  a  protest  went  up  from  Jotham, 
who  laid  bare  the  real  nature  of  all  such  political 


28  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

work  by  the  fable  of  the  trees  that  went  forth  to 
anoint  a  king  over  them.  They  appealed  in  turn 
to  the  olive,  the  fig  and  the  vine  to  become  their 
king,  but  each  refused.  And  then  they  went  to  the 
bramble,  which  consented  on  the  condition  the 
trees  would  put  their  trust  in  its  shadow,  or  fire 
should  go  out  of  its  branches  and  consume  the 
best  of  them,  even  the  cedars  of  Lebanon. 

In  the  exigencies  of  political  affairs  how  fre- 
quently it  happens  that  some  person,  a  very  Abim- 
elech  among  men,  obtains  over  others  as  much 
better  than  himself  as  the  olive  and  fig  are  better 
than  the  bramble,  place  and  power  which  he  can- 
not long  retain  against  the  better  sense  of  the 
community,  except  it  be  possible  for  him  to  debase 
them  to  the  level  of  a  trust  in  his  shadow,  or  for 
his  destructive  jealousy  to  go  forth  as  fire  from  the 
branches  and  overwhelm  those  whose  worth  threat- 
ens his  position. 

It  would  be  very  difificult  indeed  to  assign  a 
date,  even  approximately,  to  the  birth  of  the 
caucus  system.  But  that  it  has  long  been  in  the 
past  as  it  is  now  an  instrument,  potent  for  good 
and  evil,  indeed,  ''king"  in  political  matters,  is 
apparent. 

If  the  family  is  the  basis  of  all  civil  government, 
as  many  publicists  insist,  the  multiplication  of 
families  necessitated  a  union  among  them  under  a 
common  head,  and  a  choice  of  the  common  head 


DIRECTION  OF  POLITICAL  POWER. 


29 


Introduced  the  practice  of  selecting  one  Individual 
to  fill  that  office  from  among  a  number,  a  necessity 
constantly  recurring  in  the  progress  of  events. 
And  with  it  came  the  need  of  consultation  or 
caucusing  to  bring  about  unity  of  action  by  those 
who  favored  the  selection  of  some  one  individual 
in  preference  to  another.  The  policy  or  direction 
to  be  given  to  the  affairs  of  a  community  by  the 
chieftain  so  chosen  would  also  come  before  these 
conferences,  especially  if  full  freedom  of  choice  ex- 
isted ;  and  where  it  did  not  exist,  not  unfrequently 
there  would  arise  caucusing  '*  of  honorable  danger- 
ous consequences  "  in  connection  with  the  individ- 
ual holding,  or  with  the  one  to  be  elevated  to  the 
chief  power.  Political  writers  of  the  past  uni- 
formly recognize  the  early  existence  of  the  caucus 
in  affairs,  among  whom  and  not  least  in  very  able 
company  is  the  ex-president  John  Adams,  who 
writes:  ''Caucuses  of  patricians,  caucuses  of  ple- 
beians always  prevailed  at  Rome,  and  in  all  other 
free  countries."  And  with  no  less  truth  he  writes 
in  reference  to  the  service  of  the  caucus  in  the 
United  States :  ''  Our  revolution  was  effected  by 
caucus,  the  Federal  constitution  was  formed  by 
caucus,  and  the  Federal  administration  was  sus- 
tained by  it."  And  in  a  letter  to  Roger  Sherman 
upon  the  method  of  choosing  the  president  by 
electors  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  people 
or  by  the  Legislature  of  the  states,  he  says  :  ''  All] 


30 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


these  complications  of  machinery,  these  wheels 
within  wheels — imperia  within  imperia — have  not 
been  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  people.  They  have 
invented  a  balance  to  all  balances  in  their  cau- 
cuses :  state  caucuses,  district  caucuses,  town  cau- 
cuses, parish  caucuses  and  Sunday  caucuses  at 
church  doors ;  and  in  these  aristocratical  caucuses 
elections  are  determined." 

This  so  general  application  and  development  of 
the  caucus  is  as  yet  peculiar  to  the  United  States. 
Here  it  took  its  name  "  caucus,"  a  word,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  American  origin,  and  deemed  here  a 
fit,  but  since  its  adoption  a  much  abused  term,  to 
designate  a  meeting  for  conference  of  citizens  en- 
gaged upon  party  work,  to  further  the  measures 
they  advocate  by  the  choice  of  a  public  officer  who 
will  carry  them  into  effect,  or  to  bring  support  to 
a  political  measure  which  they  favor. 


I 


IV. 

WHAT   GIVES    THE   CAUCUS   ITS    AUTHORITY. 

The  first  glimpse  we  have  in  history  of  the  cau- 
cus, as  before  noted,  shows  a  self-seeker  in  posses- 
sion using  it  to  secure  for  himself  an  office  within 
the  gift  of  the  people  of  Shechem.  And  the  de- 
scription given  of  the  Boston  Caucus  Club  shows 
its  members  engaged  in  filling  the  city  offices  with 
selections  from  their  own  number.  Also  Hildreth's 
reference  to  the  caucus  leaves  it  uncertain  that 
it  was  not  a  combination  of  men,  made  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  the  election  of  a  favorite  to 
the  governorship  of  a  colony. 

From  these  and  many  other  instances  of  its  like 
employment,  that  might  be  drawn  from  past  and 
recent  times,  and  which  it  would  be  affectation  to 
cite,  an  odious  reputation  for  want  of  disinterested- 
ness in  its  objects  and  impartiality  in  its  methods 
has  attached  to  the  caucus,  which  gives  occasion 
for  fair-dealing  men  to  entertain  an  ill  opinion  of 
it.  But  a  careful  examination  of  ths  source  of  its 
power  discloses  this  odious  selfishness  and  partial- 
ity to  be  the  weakness  of  the  caucus  and  not 
its  strength,  and  should  be  avoided. 


ERSITT  ) 


3 2  THE  A MERICAN  CA  UCUS  S  YSTEM. 

It  was  a  cardinal  rule  of  one  of  the  most  saga- 
cious of  American  politicians,  to  go  into  caucus  in 
the  support  of  measures,  primarily  and  secondarily, 
in  behalf  of  men.  For,  when  there  is  no  principle 
at  stake,  the  contest  sinks  to  the  canvass  of  indi- 
vidual benefits,  and  unavoidably  to  intrigue  and  Im- 
portunate appeal,  accompanied  by  backbiting,  slan- 
der and  deception.  To  use  his  own  words  : ''  Every 
old  politician  knows  a  caucus  is  always  provocative 
of  animosities,  confusion  and  disgrace,  when  got  up 
for  the  support  of  persons'  Instead  of  things.  To 
this  rule  not  an  exception  has  come  within  my 
knowledge  since  1797,  when  I  first  had  a  right  to 
assume  and  take  upon  myself  the  part  of  a  politi- 
cian, and  I  was  always  one  of  the  most  zealous  ad- 
herents to  the  proceedings  adopted,  when  meas- 
ures are  regarded,  but  never  so  acted  in  favor  of 
persons  alone,  nor  will  I  until  I  shall  fix  a  price  on 
my  vote." 

The  position  of  this  political  sage  will  be  better 
understood  upon  a  brief  consideration  of  the  influ- 
ence principles  have  in  the  formation  and  conduct 
of  parties,  which  finds  its  apposite  illustration  In 
American  colonial  and  federal  history. 

Prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  policy  of 
the  Crown  of  England  was  designed  to  establish 
Its  power  and  prerogatives,  and  to  repress  all 
growth  of  democracy  In  the  colonies  ;  hence  the 
colonists  were  divided  Into  two  main  parties,  to 


WHAT  GIVES  THE  CAUCUS  ITS  AUTHORITY.  33 

which  were  given  the  names  Whig  and  Tory — 
names  borrowed  from  England,  but  distinguish- 
ing there  advocates  of  political  principles  and 
measures  not  entirely  applicable  to  the  colonists. 
This  division  into  parties  was  further  aided  by 
conditions  that  lay  below  Parliamentary  decrees 
and  imperial  rescripts.  The  colonists  were  Bible- 
reading,  and  thinking  people.  They  saw  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  was  not  the 
freedom  of  the  masses,  and  intensely  realized  that 
fact.  To  secure  liberty  was  to  them  a  duty  and 
their  mission.  And  this  provoked  a  contest  with 
the  bonds  and  withes  that  king-craft  cunningly  in 
its  own  behalf  casts  about  the  subject,  and  which 
custom,  moss-grown,  and  education,  perverted  by 
superstition,  had  sanctioned. 

Necessarily,  men  who  have  been  drawn  together 
to  plant  a  society  in  a  wilderness,  that  should  live 
and  supplant  the  wilderness,  and  be  destined  to 
become  a  great  and  free  nation,  would  resist  all 
checks  upon  their  freedom  attempted  by  interests 
so  entirely  at  war  with  it.  The  colonists  may 
not  have  foreseen  the  great  republic  that  now 
stands  upon  the  foundations  they  so  wisely  and  so 
persistently  labored  to  lay ;  and  may  not  have  built 
in  view  of  such  an  edifice,  but,  in  the  sense  that 
those  who  adhere  to  a  great  truth  and  struggle  in 
its  behalf,  guard  it  from  overgrowing  parasites, 
until  all  men  come  to  hail   it  as  vital   in   human 


34 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


affairs,  may  be  said  to  have  foreseen  the  blessings, 
however  glorious  and  abundant  in  after  days  in  its 
full  fruition  showering  from  it,  so  those  pioneers 
of  the  republic  may  be  justly  honored  as  the  proph- 
ets of  the  day  that  saw  it  a  fixed  fact,  and  taking 
its  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  the  freest, 
because  the  truthfulest  of  them  all. 

It  is  probable  the  colonists  drew  some  inspira- 
tion from  the  freedom  possessed  by  the  savages  in 
the  forests  about  them,  and  were  further  animated 
by  it  to  preserve  on  the  soil  on  which  it  had  ex- 
isted for  unnumbered  ages,  somewhat  of  its  bless- 
ings for  the  future.  They  constantly  complained 
to  the  Crown  of  laws  that  infringed  upon  liberty. 
and  petitioned  for  laws  that  would  secure  its  en- 
joyment to  all  alike.  They  stoutly  repudiated 
that  theory  of  society  and  government,  which 
makes  both  creatures  of  human  devising,  the  gift 
of  some  exalted  donor  having  a  treasury  out  of 
which  he  may  select  and  grant  to  men,  as  privi- 
leges, their  rights. 

Such  was  the  contest  maintained  on  the  one 
part  by  the  Whigs  and  opposed  by  those  who  be- 
lieved on  the  contrary.  In  the  divine  right  of  kings, 
and  gave  ready  support  to  all  the  measures  of  the 
Crown,  including  those  which  subverted  freedom 
and  imposed  servitude. 

These  views,  so  radically  different,  affected  every 
individual    colonist.     Every    colonial    act,    every 


WHAT  GIVES  THE  CAUCUS  ITS  AUTHORITY. 


35 


choice  of  a  public  officer  was  determined  by  them. 
Majorities  were  gathered  and  minorities  over- 
ridden at  the  caucus,  hustings  and  ballot:-box,  be- 
cause of  them  ;  and  when  the  contest  could  no 
longer  be  kept  within  the  limits  of  public  discus- 
sion, the  ballot-box  and  legislative  halls,  war  broke 
forth  and  armies  were  formed,  and  men  offered 
their  lives  to  make  those  principles  the  policy  of 
the  colonial  government.  The  doctrine,  the  govern- 
ment is  not  a  fountain  of  blessings,  but  is  the  con- 
centrated might  of  the  people,  to  be  directed  to  re- 
sist and  defeat  every  infringement  of  the  God- 
given  blessings  freedom  possesses  for  them,  be- 
came the  battle-cry  of  a  nation. 

With  the  war  came  the  death  of  the  Tory  party. 
The  name  itself  became  a  word  of  reproach,  nor 
was  there  room  given  to  neutrals.  The  contest  was 
vital  and  whoever  was  not  for  the  patriotic  Whigs 
was  against  them,  and  was  waged  until  the  stipula- 
tion of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  forever  renounc- 
ing all  further  claim  of  dominion  over  the  colo- 
nies, concluded  it.  This  to  the  Whigs  was  a  joy- 
ful establishment  of  their  principles,  and  for  England 
a  wise  recognition  of  their  validity,  fruitful  in  good 
results.  Always  applicable  is  the  truth,  that  both 
the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed  are,  by  the  cessa- 
tion of  oppression,  again  placed  in  right  relation 
to  each  other,  as  a  bent  bow  when  relieved  returns  to 
the  line  of  its  grain.     The  war  ended,  the  argument 


36  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

of  blood  gave  place  to  peaceable  discussion  among 
the  colonists,  of  measures  of  freedom  which  their 
sacrifices  had  secured  for  them.  They  sat  about 
uniting  and  formulating  with  greater  completeness 
their  powers,  groping  their  way  to  that  end  in  the 
light  of  such  knowledge  and  experience  in  state- 
craft as  the  world  possessed.  But  these  proceed- 
ings broke  up  the  Whig  party  of  the  war.  The 
union  of  the  people,  fusing  together,  as  it  were, 
the  citizens  of  the  colonies  into  one  homogeneous 
nation  to  supplant  the  existing  confederation  of 
sovereign  states,  was  advocated  by  a  portion  of  the 
Whigs,  who  took  the  name  of  Federalists,  and  all 
others  who  opposed  that  policy,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
were  called  Anti-Federalists,  names  borne  through- 
out the  contest  that  evolved  and  established  the 
Federal  Constitution,  and  until  its  growing  popu- 
larity caused  the  opposition  to  take  the  name 
*'  Republicans."  But  all  parties  worked  for  the 
same  result  and  earnestly  considered  ways  and 
means  that  would  best  secure  individual  and  na- 
tional rights,  free  from  infringement  not  only 
through  foreign  Injustice,  but  domestic  perverse- 
ness  as  well.  How  far  and  yet  how  imperfectly 
they  succeeded  the  Federal  Constitution  and  its 
several  amendments,  the  unnumbered  state  papers 
promulgated  In  regard  to  it,  the  interminable  leg- 
islative debates  over  Its  provisions,  the  volumes 
of  judicial  Interpretations  of  its  terms,  the  never- 


WHA  T  GIVES  THE  CA  UCUS  ITS  A  UTHORITY. 


37 


ending  discussion  through  a  free  press  active  in 
gathering  to  itself  all  mooted  matters,  and  a  series 
of  wars  the  longest  and  most  lamentable,  a  civil 
war,  sufficiently  answer.  Men  find  the  causes  of 
infringement  upon  their  rights  so  numerous  and 
deftly  improved  upon,  that  any  expectation  of  a 
final  end  to  them  and  of  party  spirit  and  party 
measures  engendered  by  them,  must  be  postponed 
to  the  indefinite. 

If  one  thinks  otherwise,  let  him  consider,  among 
many  that  might  be  suggested,  these  questions, 
now  before  the  public  or  soon  to  arise  for  settle- 
ment. These  of  foreign  concern  :  *'  Are  open  nat- 
urally navigable  waters  free  ways  to  the  ships  of  all 
nations  ?  Are  sea  fisheries  common  to  all  comers 
to  take  from,  cure  and  market?  Are  Isthmean 
canals  connecting  open  seas,  highways  for  all  the 
world  or  only  for  the  nation  constructing  them  ?  " 
And  these  of  domestic  concern :  "  Should  inter- 
state lines  of  railroads  and  telegraphs  be  under  pub- 
lic control  ?  Should  Congress  provide  all  the  cur- 
rency of  the  country,  metallic  and  paper?  Should 
customs  upon  imports  be  abolished  ?  Should  a 
free  and  compulsory  education  of  all  the  people  be 
required  and  enforced  by  Congress  ?  Should  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage,  be  pro- 
hibited by  Congress?"  If  the  reader  takes,  as  he 
probably  would,  the  affirmative  or  negative  of  such 
questions  he  will  naturally  wish  to  see  the  govern- 


38  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

ment  act  in  accordance  with  his  views.  To  accom- 
plish this  he  must  be  able  to  select  men  for  gov- 
ernmental places  who  agree  with  him  in  that  respect. 
When  the  question  *'  whether  at  all  or  at  any  time 
the  freedom  of  the  negro  could  be  infringed  upon 
— even  altogether  taken  away  from  him,"  was  before 
the  people,  the  anti-slavery  men  could  not  consist- 
ently go  into  caucus  and  advocate  the  nomination 
of  men  for  public  office,  even  of  a  minor  character, 
who  held  pro-slavery  views.  So  it  must  necessarily 
be  with  the  advocates  and  opponents  of  every  po- 
litical measure,  if  it  be  of  sufficient  importance  to 
rally  parties  about  it.  From  the  foregoing  the 
force  of  the  rule  of  conduct  laid  down  by  the  ven- 
erable mentor  before  quoted,  becomes  apparent. 
Indeed  it  is  vital  for  the  success  or  defeat  of  a 
measure  that  no  one  should  go  into  a  caucus  but 
in  reference  to  it,  and  abide  by  the  caucus  pro- 
ceedings only,  when  the  party  measures  are  re- 
garded ;  but  never,  when  to  elevate  men  to  office 
alone  is  considered,  unless  he  is  prepared  to  ''  fix 
a  price  upon  his  vote."  For  in  the  latter  case 
the  very  essentials  of  party  organization  are  sur- 
rendered up,  and  instead  of  a  party  man  interested 
in  the  policy  of  his  country,  he  sinks  to  be  a  fol- 
lower of  the  fortunes  of  an  individual.  Public  in- 
terests are  forgotten  in  the  selfishness  and  partial- 
ity developed  in  the  interests  of  his  candidate's  suc- 
cess.    On  the  other  hand,  when  measures  are  re- 


WHAT  GIVES  THE  CAUCUS  ITS  AUTHORITY.  ng 

garded,  and  men  are  selected  for  office  solely  with 
regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  measure,  there  is  a 
hearty  and  earnest  union  of  all  of  like  convictions 
as  to  those  measures,  with  a  very  charitable  con- 
sideration of  the  personal  characteristics  of  the 
men  nominated,  public  sentiment,  that  seldom 
errs  aiding  the  selection  of  fit  men  to  whom  the 
care  of  the  measure,  to  make  it,  the  governmental 
policy,  may  be  entrusted.      But  to  return. 

The  Federalists  having  overcome  all  opposition 
and  put  the  national  government  in  operation, 
dominated,  during  Washington's  and  John  Adams' 
administrations,  its  entire  policy.  But  they  were 
criticized  with  unmerited  severity  by  their  oppo- 
nents, who  finally  succeeded  in  supplanting  them 
through  the  medium  of  the  caucus.  Senator 
Smith,  in  the  course  of  the  historical  debate  before 
referred  to,  reminded  the  opponents  of  the  caucus 
of  the  fact  and  gave  a  chapter  of  its  history.  *'  I 
am  surprised,"  he  said,  '*at  the  course  taken  by  the 
member  from  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Hayne.  He 
was  too  young  to  know  the  extreme  difficulty  the 
Republican  party  had  to  encounter,  and  the  dan- 
ger it  has  been  exposed  to  by  attempts  calculated 
to  create  schism,  that  might,  by  dividing,  have 
exposed  it  to  great  dangers,  which  in  my  humble 
opinion  have  been  mainly  obviated  by  the  caucus 
system.  Nor  am  I  surprised  at  the  opposition  of 
the  gentleman  from  New  York,  Mr.  King.     That 


40  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

gentleman  was  a  leading  chief  of  the  Federal 
party,  and  no  doubt  thinks  what  I  know,  that  owing 
to  the  caucus  system  his  party  was  prostrated  and 
the  Republican  party  brought  into  power.  I  ad- 
here to  the  system  which  rendered  such  essential 
service.  Upon  this  I  act  as  a  party  man,  and  have 
no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  wish  to  keep  my 
party  in  power ;  and  I  believe  the  caucus  system  the 
most  efficient  means  therefor.  A  caucus  was  held 
in  Philadelphia  and  nominated  Jefferson  (1796) 
against  Adams,  but  Adams  won.  The  next  time 
the  caucus  won  and  Jefferson  was  elected ;  so  with 
Madison,  so  with  Monroe,  only  the  Federalists 
opposed  it  because  it  broke  them  up  and  defeated 
them." 

No  one  questioned  the  senator's  statement,  and 
it  may  be  accepted  as  historically  correct,  and  as 
proof  of  the  power  of  the  caucus  in  directing  party 
measures  and  securing  their  success. 

The  overthrow  of  the  Federal  party  referred  to 
was  so  complete  that  it  never  recovered,  but  strug- 
gling, passed  reluctantly  to  the  keeping  of  history. 
It  carried  with  it  a  long  roll  of  the  *'  fathers,"  men 
who  early  saw  the  wrongs  of  all  the  colonies  in  the 
wrongs  of  one  of  them,  who  gave  the  work  of  their 
lives  to  unite  the  colonies  into  one  independent 
nation  ;  and  who  laid  down  the  political  power  so 
long  entrusted  to  them,  with  a  foreign  policy  so 
firmly    established    for    peacefulness,    candor    and 


WHAT  GIVES  THE  CAUCUS  ITS  AUTHORITY.  41 

fair  dealing,  that  subsequent  perverseness  has  not 
destroyed  it ;  and  an  internal  policy  so  universal, 
far-reaching  and  beneficial  in  its  effects  that  blind 
opposition  has  not  choked  it.  Thus  they  earned 
for  themselves  the  paternal  appellation,  *'  Fathers 
of  the  Republic,"  given  and  honored  throughout 
the  land,  and  beyond  the  seas  even.  Indeed,  so 
well  adapted  to  the  young  nation  was  the  Federal 
policy,  that  looking  back  over  the  years  gone  since 
their  expulsion  from  power,  it  may  not  be  denied 
that  their  opponents  and  successors  erred  most 
when  departing  from  it,  and  succeeded  best  when 
making  that  policy  their  own.  Take  a  few  ex- 
amples, which  show  also  the  influence  and  longev- 
ity of  political  principles,  of  real  worth. 

The  Federalists  insisted  upon  a  navy  and  a 
school  of  marine.  The  Republicans,  led  by  Jeffer- 
son, opposed  it  even  to  the  extent  of  paying  trib- 
ute to  the  Algerine  pirates  in  default  of  a  navy. 
*'  Millions,"  the  Federalists  urged,  ''  for  defence, 
but  not  one  cent  for  tribute  ; "  but  Jefferson,  as 
president,  sent  the  small  fleet  of  frigates  and 
sloops  of  war  built  through  the  persistence  of  the 
Federalists,  to  the  Mediterranean,  which  extermi- 
nated the  pirates  and  established  the  glory  of  the 
American  flag  and  the  assurance  that  it  was  the 
symbol  of  a  nation,  upon  the  sea.  Again  the  Fed- 
eralists saw,  notwithstanding  the  passions  that  had 
been  engendered   by  the    War   of    Independence 


42  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

and  the  bull-dog  diplomacy  of  England,  that  it 
was  best  for  Americans  to  come  to  a  fair  under- 
standing with  the  mother  country,  and  to  entirely 
avoid  all  alliances  with  the  French  Directory  and 
the  usurping  Bonaparte.  This  policy,  however, 
was  made  unpopular  by  the  attacks  of  the  Anti- 
Federalists,  and  contributed  the  main  argument 
for  the  overthrow  of  that  great  and  all  but  invin- 
cible party.  But  the  outcome  was,  that  the  Re- 
publicans, not  fitted  by  their  party's  creed  to  em- 
ulate the  firmness  of  the  Federals,  and  unable  to 
change  their  policy,  submitted  to  the  most  hu- 
miliating insults  from  Bonaparte,  even  to  the  con- 
fiscation of  American  ships  and  the  execution  of 
American  seamen,  on  the  ground  they  were  British 
subjects  employed  on  American  vessels,  and  finally 
to  a  war  with  England  and  the  sacrifice  of 
thirty  thousand  lives  and  a  hundred  millions  of 
money  for  no  additional  gain  to  the  nation  beyond 
that  already  secured  by  the  treaty  of  1 783. 

Also  the  Federalists  established  a  national  bank 
that  aided  in  funding  the  national  debt  and  in 
giving  the  young  nation  credit  abroad,  and  secured 
over  an  immense  country  at  home,  ill  provided 
with  means  of  intercommunication,  an  uniform  ex- 
change and  currency.  Upon  this  bank  the  Anti- 
Federalists  made  unconditional  war  and  ultimately 
overthrew  it,  and  let  in  a  system  of  state  banks,  ill- 
regulated  exchange  and  depreciated  currency,  that 


WHAT  GIVES  THE  CAUCUS  ITS  AUTHORITY. 


43 


went  by  various  names,  some  odd  but  doubtless 
characteristic,  as  '*  red-dog,"  ''wild-cat,"  ''alligator 
hide,"  etc.,  evils  that  did  not  entirely  disappear 
until  the  exigencies  of  the  late  Civil  War  re- 
instated a  national  currency.  The  Federalists  in- 
sisted upon  the  self-preservative  nature  of  the 
Constitution,  and  that  the  nation  was  indivisible  : 
a  policy  that  Jefferson  antagonized,  insisting,  the 
nation  was  a  union  of  states,  severable  at  the  will 
of  any  one  of  them.  But  Jackson  had  to  maintain 
the  Federal  doctrine  against  the  schism  of  South 
Carolina  in  1832-33,  and  Lincoln  also  in  the  war  of 
1861-65.  The  Federalists  insisted  upon  an  inter- 
pretation of  the  Constitution  which  admitted  of 
remedial  measures  ;  their  opponents  insisted  upon 
a  strict  construction  and  found  slight  warrant 
for  a  donation  from  the  national  treasury  of 
$15,000,  in  aid  to  some  refugees  from  the  West 
India  Islands,  cast  helpless  and  destitute  upon  the 
charity  of  Baltimore.  But  Jefferson  purchased 
Louisiana,  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
immense  territory  beyond,  inaugurating  the  policy 
of  annexation  of  contiguous  territory  until  the 
national  domain  has  reached  the  Pacific. 

But  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  inconsistencies 
of  parties  Is  here  for  discussion  ;  it  is  the  influ- 
ence of  principles  in  the  formation  of  parties  and 
in  giving  caucus  Its  powers.  Enough  apparently 
has  been  said  to  show  that  parties  as  opposed  to 


44 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


clans  or  chieftainships  are  organized  upon  meas- 
ures that  survive,  though  party  is  overthrown  and 
leadership  fails.  Men  believing  the  principles  of 
their  party  to  be  best  for  the  country,  cannot 
surrender  them  up  to  selfish  interests  in  the  success 
of  an  individual  without  stultification  or  crime. 
They  must  be  governed  by  their  principles  in  all 
their  political  actions,  and  more  especially  when 
seeking  to  unite  with  others  of  like  conviction 
through  the  medium  of  the  caucus. 

Still  a  party,  like  an  army,  must  have  leaders, 
selected,  however,  not  with  a  view  to  the  amount  of 
plunder  they  are  capable  of  looting  from  the  pub- 
lic for  themselves  and  their  followers,  but  to  pre- 
serve the  organization  and  carry  into  effect,  when 
the  opportunity  occurs,  the  measures  of  the  party. 
^  It  is  not  always  the  leaders.  It  may  be  observed, 
who  are  elected  to  public  office.  Many  a  ''  War- 
wick" in  American  politics  has  lived  rejoicing  In 
his  influence  and  power  "  behind  the  throne" 
without  ever  having  held  office.  But  whether  the 
leaders  are  candidates  for  office  or  not,  they  cease 
to  be  leaders  when  failing  to  advocate  party  meas- 
ures at  the  caucus  with  a  view  to  Impress  them 
upon  the  policy  of  the  nation. 


CHAPTER   V. 

CAUCUS    NOMINATIONS    COMPARED    WITH     SELF-NOMI- 
NATIONS. 

William  H.  Seward,  wending  his  way  a  trav- 
eller among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
region  of  Virginia,  reflects,  "  The  caucus  barely  re- 
ceived by  her  politicians  will  in  the  end  abolish 
her  glorious  system  of  self-nominations — the  true 
secret  of  Virginia's  political  independence  and 
power."  The  philosophic  statesman  and  politician 
here  contrasts  the  caucus  system  for  appointing 
party  candidates  for  elective  offices,  as  conducted, 
especially  in  New  York,  under  his  own  observa- 
tion, with  the  practice  of  self-nominations  in  those 
states  where  the  wealth,  the  leisure  and  the  politi- 
cal training  was  with  the  large  landowners,  gener- 
ally slaveholders,  from  among  whom  appeared,  as 
elections  drew  near,  gentlemen  offering  themselves 
as  candidates  for  the  office  to  be  filled. 

The  sentiment  in  those  communities  was  such  as 
to  invite  men  to  come  forward  and  solicit,  person- 
ally, votes.  Indeed  the  gentry  encouraged  mem- 
bers of  their  caste  to  seek,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others,  office  as  an  employment.     The  caucus  an- 

45 


46  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

tagonlzed  such  a  system  and  opened  the  door  to 
the  electors  to  select  the  candidate  from  the  labor- 
ing as  well  as  from  the  capital-owning  class  ; 
while  under  the  system  of  self-nominations  the 
choice  of  the  person  was  practically  the  concern  of 
slaveholders  only.  These,  although  divided  into 
parties  in  common  with  their  brethren  elsewhere, 
managed,  in  the  interest  of  their  caste,  to  confine 
the  candidates  for  public  office  to  themselves,  and 
to  men  holding  rarely  if  ever  other  than  local 
views.  They  cultivated  *'  stump  "  oratory  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  effective  kind,  which  with  so- 
cial manners  to  match,  made  them  in  the  peri- 
odical election  contests  all  but  irresistible  with 
the  masses.  The  *'  parliamenteering  "  practices, 
brought  over  with  the  settlement  of  the  country 
from  Old  England,  were  in  those  sections  in 
many  respects  maintained,  particularly  in  regard 
to  exclusiveness  in  the  selection  of  candidates  for 
office  and  the  methods  of  preserving  it.  A  glance 
at  English  practices  will  best  illustrate  this. 

The  English  borough  system  admitted  in  many 
cases  of  seating  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a 
great  landholder,  a  friend  or  retainer,  without  con- 
sulting in  the  slightest  respect  the  views  of  the 
residents  of  the  borough.  In  others,  where  there 
was  considerable  population  and  some  wealth,  the 
gentry  determined  the  matter  among  themselves ; 
while  still  other  boroughs  were  sharolv  and  inHnc. 


CA UCUS  NOMINA TIONS.  Ay 

triously  canvassed.  But  In  all  of  them  the  gentry 
held  the  commanding  position,  securing  to  their 
own  class  or  retainers  almost  exclusively  the  rep- 
resentation in  the  House.  If  talent  in  other 
classes  was  regarded,  it  was  owing  to  the  patron- 
age of  the  great.  Thus,  Edmund  Burke  owed  to 
the  patronage  of  a  large  landholder  his  advent 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  did  also  the  histo- 
rian Macaulay,  and  in  present  times,  William  E. 
Gladstone.  They  were  originally  *'  pocket  bor- 
ough "  members,  that  Is,  they  were  returned  to 
represent  boroughs  carved  out  of  the  lands  of  their 
patrons,  who  gave  them  their  seats  through  friend- 
ship, or  for  the  benefit  they  or  their  party  would 
receive  from  their  talents.  In  cases  where  a  bor- 
ough was  of  that  size  and  importance  that  admitted 
of  a  canvass  of  the  electors,  ambitious  men  came 
forward,  or  were  Invited  by  friends  **  to  stand," — 
the  raw  edge  being  taken  off,  sometimes,  by  the 
pre-arranged  Invitation, — and  solicit  votes  as  can- 
didates for  the  office. 

Edmund  Burke,  after  attracting  attention  as  the 
representative,  by  the  friendship  of  Lord  Verney, 
of  the  pocket  borough  of  Wendover,  went  to 
Bristol,  certain  gentlemen  advising  him  to  do  so, 
and  entered  the  canvass  in  his  own  behalf  as  a  can- 
didate to  represent  them  In  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. This  was  in  October,  1774.  Being  an  ac- 
complished orator,  and  having  well  known  sympa- 


48  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

thies  for  the  American  colonies,  they  beHeved  he 
might  carry  with  him  the  shippers  and  merchants 
of  that  port.  He  reached  Bristol  after  the  polls 
had  been  open  for  five  days,  but  going  directly 
to  work  he  addressed  the  electors :  '*  Gentlemen, 
I  am  come  hither  to  solicit  in  person  that  favor 
which  my  friends  have  hitherto  endeavored  to 
procure  for  me,"  and  continuing  so  eloquently 
and  effectively  that  great  enthusiasm  was  aroused 
in  his  favor.  Indeed  his  colleague  (Bristol  was 
entitled  to  two  members),  who,  by  the  way,  was 
a  native  of  New  York,  could  only  say  when 
called  upon  to  address  the  electors  in  his  turn, 
*'  Gentlemen,  I  say  ditto  to  Mr.  Burke,  again  I  say 
ditto,"  earning  for  himself  from  that  moment  the 
life-long  soubriquet  "■  Ditto  Cruger,"  and  becoming 
the  hero  of  a  political  anecdote  ;  but  the  same 
gentleman,  after  the  polls  were  closed  and  he  and 
Mr.  Burke  had  been  declared  elected,  returned 
thanks  by  saying,  ''  his  rule  of  conduct  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Commons  should  be  their 
will,  and  that  in  all  things  he  should  vote  as 
they  directed."  This  caused  Mr.  Burke  to  say  in 
his  closing  address,  ''  Parliament  was  not  a  con- 
gress of  ambassadors  from  different  and  hostile 
interests,  which  interests  each  must  maintain  as 
an  agent  and  advocate,  against  other  agents  and 
advocates ;  but  Parliament  is  a  deliberative  as- 
sembly   of    one    nation   with    one    interest,    that 


CAUCUS  NOMINATIONS.  ^g 

of  the  whole,  where,  not  local  purposes,  not 
local  prejudices  ought  to  guide,  but  the  general 
good  resulting  from  the  general  reason  of  the 
whole  ; "  and  while  the  opinions  of  his  constituents 
a  ''representative  ought  always  rejoice  to  hear 
and  ought  always  most  seriously  consider,"  yet, 
**  authoritative  instructions,  mandates  issued  which 
the  member  is  bound  blindly  and  implicitly  to 
obey,  to  vote,  and  to  argue  for,  though  contrary 
to  the  clearest  convictions  of  his  judgment  and 
conscience,  these  are  things  utterly  unknown  to 
the  laws  of  this  land,  and  which  arise  from  a  fun- 
damental mistake  of  the  whole  order  and  tenor  of 
our  constitution" — principles  which  have  been 
more  or  less  discussed  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  first  Congress  a  resolution  was  introduced  to 
amend  the  Constitution  so  as  to  require  members 
of  the  congress  to  obey  the  instructions  of  their 
constituents,  but  it  failed  of  much  support.  The- 
mere  self-nominee,  however,  is  through  the  nature 
of  his  offer  a  local  representative,  depending  upon 
local  views  for  his  popularity  and  votes  ;  a  truth 
that  Mr.  Burke  became  witness  to  in  after  days. 

John  Q.  Adams,  when  United  States  senator, 
finding  himself  at  variance  with  the  Legislature 
that  appointed  him  to  that  office  resigned  it,  that 
the  people  of  Massachusetts  might  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  electing  a  man  to  his  seat  who  would 
carry  out  their  will.     And  there  are  instances  of 

4 


50 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


public  men  refusing  to  resign  their  office  when  re- 
quested to  by  the  power  appointing  them.  And 
also  instances  of  men  refusing  to  obey  the  Instruc- 
tions of  their  constituents.  General  Cass,  when 
senator,  refused  to  obey  the  Instructions  of  the 
Legislature  of  Michigan.  James  Buchanan,  when 
serenaded  after  his  nomination  to  the  presidency  by 
the  Democratic  party,  replied,  "  Gentlemen,  two 
weeks  ago  I  should  have  made  you  a  longer  speech, 
but  now  I  have  been  placed  upon  a  platform  of 
which  I  most  heartily  approve  and  that  can  speak 
for  me.  Being  the  representative  of  the  great 
Democratic  party,  and  not  simply  James  Buchanan, 
I  must  square  my  conduct  according  to  the  platform 
of  that  party  and  insert  no  new  plank  nor  take  one 
out  of  It."  Which  speech  his  witty  opponents  com- 
pressed into  *'  I  am  no  longer  James  Buchanan,  I 
am  the  Cincinnati  platform."  So  faithful  was  Bu- 
chanan to  the  pro-slavery  spirit  and  policy  of  his 
party,  that  when  secession  threatened,  he  could  find 
in  It  no  warrant  for  coercing  a  state :  in  other 
words,  for  preserving  the  unity  of  the  nation — an 
instance  where,  to  achieve  success,  a  great  party 
surrendered  itself  to  the  demands  of  a  local  Inter- 
est, and  found  In  its  representative  a  blind  adherent 
and  executive  of  Its  behests. 

Mr.  Burke,  In  his  address  at  Bristol,  discloses 
some  of  the  practices  at  the  hustings,  showing  very 
clearly  the  personal  nature  of  his  canvass  for  Bris- 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS.  5  I 

tol  votes.  Some  question  was  raised  by  the  de- 
feated candidate  over  the  legaHty  of  certain  votes 
cast,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand.  Mr.  Burke, 
arguing  in  favor  of  those  votes,  contrasted  his  own 
conduct  with  that  of  his  opponent,  saying  among 
other  things,  **  I  was  brought  hither  under  the  dis- 
advantage of  being  unknown,  even  by  sight,  to  any 
of  you.  No  previous  canvass  had  been  made  for 
me.  I  was  put  in  nomination  after  the  poll  was 
opened.  I  did  not  appear  until  it  was  far  ad- 
vanced. If  under  all  these  accumulated  disadvan- 
tages your  good  opinion  has  carried  me  to  this 
happy  point  of  success,  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  can 
only  say  to  you  collectively  as  I  said  to  you  indi- 
vidually, simply  and  plainly,  '  I  thank  you.'  I  am 
obliged  to  you.  I  am  not  insensible  of  your  kind- 
ness  I  do  not  imagine  you  find  me  rash  in 

delivering  myself  or  very  forward  in  troubling  you. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  election  I 
have  kept  silence  in  all  matters  of  discussion.  I 
have  never  asked  a  question  of  a  voter  on  the 
other  side,  or  supported  a  doubtful  vote   on  my 

own I  stood  on  the  hustings,  except  when 

I  gave  thanks  to  those  who  favored  me  with  their 
votes,  less  like  a  candidate  than  an  unconcerned 
spectator  of  a  public  proceeding."  But  the  gentle- 
man, ''who  so  long  and  so  earnestly  solicited  your 
votes  thinks  proper  to  deny  that  a  great  part  of 
you  have  any  votes  to  give Here  is  an  at- 


52 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


tempt  for  a  general  massacre  of  suffrages,  an  at- 
tempt by  a  promiscuous  carnage  of  friends  and 
foes  to  exterminate  above  two  thousand  votes,  in- 
clusive of  seven  hundred  polled  for  the  gentle- 
man himself,  who  now  complains,  and  who  would 
destroy  the  friends  whom  he  has  obtained,  only 
because  he  cannot  obtain  as  many  of  them  as  he 

wishes I  do  not  pretend  to  lay  down  any 

rules  of  decorum  for  other  gentlemen  ;  .  .  .  but 
how  should  I  appear  to  the  voters  themselves  ? 
If  I  had  gone  round  to  the  citizens  entitled  to 
freedom  and  seized  them  by  the  hand,  '  Sir,  I 
humbly  beg  your  vote  ;  I  shall  be  eternally  thank- 
ful ;  may  I  hope  for  the  honor  of  your  support  ? 
Well,  come,  we  shall  see  you  at  the  Council 
House.'  If  I  were  then  to  deliver  them  to  my 
managers,  pack  them  into  tallies,  vote  them  off  in 
court,  and  when  I  heard  from  the  bar,  '  Such  an 
one  only,'  and  '  Such  an  one  forever,'  *  He  is  my 
man,'  '  Thank  you,  sir,  that's  an  honest  fellow — 
how  is  your  good  family  ?'  whilst  these  words  were 
hardly  out  of  my  mouth,  if  I  had  wheeled  around 
at  once  and  said,  *  Get  you  gone,  you  pack  of 
worthless  fellows,  you  have  no  votes  ;  you  ought 
never  to  have  been  produced  at  this  election  '  .  .  . 
gentlemen,  I  should  make  a  strange  figure  if  my 
conduct  had  been  of  that  sort." 

But  Mr.  Burke's  adroit  turning  the  popular  sen- 
timent against  his  opponent,  and  his  valuable  ser- 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS.  5  3 

vices  in  behalf  of  the  general  welfare  of  Britain  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  did  not  sufficiently  com- 
mend him  to  the  Bristol  voters  and  make  good  his 
re-election  in  1 780. 

In  1774  he  entered  the  canvass  after  the  polls 
were  opened  and  solicited  votes  and  won  the  elec- 
tion. In  1780  he  was  in  the  canvass  before  the 
polls  were  opened  and  solicited  votes,  and  notwith- 
standing an  eloquent  plea,  far  more  able  than  the 
one  Cruger  dittoed,  he  was  forced  to  withdraw  to 
save  himself  from  a  greater  humiliation,  a  foreshad- 
owed defeat.  Local  issues  were  too  strong  for  him, 
and  he  entered  the  House  again  as  the  representa- 
tive of  a  pocket  borough,  belonging  to  his  power- 
ful friend  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham. 

Somewhat  similar  was  the  course  and  experience 
of  the  historian  Macaulay  in  1839.  After  obtain- 
ing considerable  reputation  as  the  representative 
of  the  *'  pocket  borough  "  of  Calne,  owned  by  Lord 
Lansdowne,  he  stood  for  Edinburgh.  His  speech 
soliciting  votes  in  that  critical  town  was  well  re- 
ceived. It  is  said  one  of  the  electors  commended 
it,  this  wise  :  "  Oh,  It  was  a  wise-like  speech,  an'  no 
defeshunt  in  airgement :  but  eh  !  man,  I'm  think- 
ing I  could  ha'  said  the  hail  o'  It  myself."  His  ap- 
peal won  at  that  time  their  votes.  But  his  advo- 
cacy of  fair  dealing  with  Roman  Catholics  and 
some  local  disturbing  issues  gave  occasion  to  his 
opponents  for  stirring  up  the  bitterest  opposition 


54 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


to  him  and  to  his  re-election.  He  labored  with 
them  in  a  powerful  speech,  but  met  with  interrup- 
tions and  insults.  Justifying  his  course  he  ex- 
claimed, "■  If  your  representative  be  an  honest 
man — "  "  Ay,  but  he's  no'  that,"  came  back  to  him 
from  the  crowd.  He  struggled  manfully  to  the  end 
but  was  beaten  by  a  man  of  little  note,  a  Mr.  Cowan, 
and  retired  from  political  life  until,  five  years  after, 
Edinburgh,  of  its  own  motion,  without  request  or 
effort  on  his  part,  again  elected  him  her  representa- 
tive. A  poem  written  shortly  after  his  defeat  con- 
tains the  often-quoted  stanza  : 

"Amidst  the  din  of  all  things  fell  and  vile — 
Hate's  yell  and  Envy's  hiss  and  Folly's  bray — 
Remember  me  !  and  with  an  unforced  smile 
See  riches,  baubles,  flatterers  pass  away." 

From  these  and  numerous  other  examples  that 
might  be  cited  it  can  be  seen,  when  men  with 
ability  to  serve  their  country,  like  Burke  and  Ma- 
caulay,  possessing  world-wide  reputation,  are  by 
the  "glorious  system  "  of  self-nomination  driven  to 
such  humiliating  practices,  what  may  be  expected 
of  men  of  lesser  note  when  aiming  at  political 
honors.  Dickens,  in  his  description  of  the  Eatans- 
will  contest,  has  only  cleverly  outlined  the  salient 
features  of.such  canvassing.  The  Hon.  Slumkeys 
and  Fitzkins  run  for  office  in  all  elective  govern- 
ments.    A  personal  contest  for  votes  by  self-nomi- 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS. 


55 


nated  candidates  exposes  In  the  baldest  manner 
the  nominee  to  the  caprice  of  the  selfish  and  vul- 
gar. A  coarse  man  at  the  polls  can  insult  and  re- 
fuse to  vote  for  such  a  candidate  with  greater  ef- 
fect than  In  the  limits  of  a  caucus,  the  humilia- 
tion of  great  men  affording  pleasure  to  base. 

The  humor  of  Dickens'  caricature  of  the  average 
husting  contest  in  England  scarcely  relieves  the 
rough  vulgarity  manifested.  The  Hon.  Samuel 
Slumkey,  of  Slumkey  Hall,  courting  the  crowd  by 
shaking  hands  with  twenty  workmen  washed  and 
placed  for  the  purpose,  and  kissing  six  babies  in 
arms  all  prepared  in  advance,  drowning  the  voice 
of  his  opponent,  the  Hon.  Horatio  Fitzkin,  of 
FItzkin  Lodge,  with  a  brass  band,  and  the  absurd 
acting  before  a  gin-  and  beer-filled  crowd,  is  suffi- 
ciently realistic  to  be  accepted  as  a  picture  of  an 
actual  contest. 

Take  a  scene  described  in  a  late  issue  of  the 
Edinburgh  Statesman  as  having  occurred  at  the 
New  Harbor,  Dunbar,  which  would  be  impossible 
in  those  places  where  the  contest  is  between  par- 
ties primarily,  and  only  secondarily  between  men. 
The  Hon.  Sir  James  Grant  Suttle  presents  himself 
before  his  constituents  at  Dunbar  and  solicits  their 
votes.  Provost  Brand  introduces  him,  and  the 
Hon.  Sir  James  says  :  '*  Ladles  and  gentlemen,  I 
am  here  because  it  Is  threatened  by  Lord  William 
Hay  to  pull  down  the  auld  kirk."     ''  Nae  fear  of  it 


^6  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

being  pulled  down,"  exclaimed  Mary,  a  great  mid- 
dle-aged woman  in  blue  print  with  a  red-and-blue 
rosette  on  her  breast.  ''  If  you  send  me  to  Parlia- 
ment," continued  Sir  James,  *'  I  shall  oppose  that 
with  all  my  might ;  I  am  sure  every  one  here  will 
vote  for  me  and  show  Lord  William — "  "  Hoo- 
ray," shouted  Mary,  "  it  will  never  be  pulled  down." 
Cheers  from  the  crowd.  Here  Sir  James  crossed 
over  to  Mary  and  shook  hands  with  her.  Mary, 
encouraged,  put  her  arm  about  Sir  James  and 
patted  him  on  the  back,  amidst  great  laughter, 
saying,  ''  Ay,  you're  a  nice  man — bless  you,  I  hope 
you'll  win."  Provost  Brand  addressed  the  crowd, 
saying,  ''  I  am  perfectly  sure,  fellow  townsmen,  if 
Sir  James  Is  elected  you  will  not  be  disappointed. 
I  am  sure  what  he  has  promised  he  will  perform. 
His  heart  Is  with  us  and  he  will  do  his  best'  for 
Dunbar."  Again  the  crowd  cheered.  *'  Look  here," 
said  Sir  James,  "  I  propose  a  vote  of  thanks  for 
the  Provost,  for  the  nice  way  he  has  spoken.  He  is 
a  great  friend  of  mine."  ''  Hear  !  hear  !  "  shouted 
the  crowd,  giving  cheers.  ''Thank  you,"  said  the 
Provost,  bowing  low.  ''  I  have  one  more  duty  to 
perform.  I  have  got  permission  to  do  it  from  my 
Lady  Susan.  I  have  a  commission  to  do  It.  Now 
I  am  going  to  execute  It,"  said  Sir  James,  and 
turning  to  Mary  he  kissed  her  cheek — somewhat 
gingerly,  the  reporter  adds — at  which  the  crowd 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS. 


•57 


laughed  immensely,  and  cheering  with  the  utmost 
enthusiasm  the  meeting  broke  up. 

Can  a  caucus  scene  be  produced  where  indecency 
and  ignorance  more  completely  ruled  the  hour  ? 

In  the  United  States  also  self  nominations  are 
very  far  from  being  free  from  objectionable  feat- 
ures. Note  a  few  mild  instances.  Every  one  is 
familiar  with  ''  Davy  "  Crockett's  trick  of  drawing 
the  attention  of  the  audience  from  his  opponent's 
speech,  and  at  the  same  time  winning  votes  for 
himself  by  going  around  in  the  crowd  with  a  bottle 
of  whiskey  in  one  side-pocket  and  a  plug  of  to- 
bacco with  a  clasp-knife  stuck  in  it  in  the  other, 
allowing  each  one,  as  his  taste  was,  to  take  a  drink 
or  a  chew  of  his  tobacco.  Crockett  was  not  of  the 
gentry  class,  as  were  his  opponents,  and  he  had  to 
draw  the  common  people  to  him  to  make  a  success- 
ful fight.  His  opponents  did  not  always  treat  him 
with  due  consideration.  They  affected  to  ignore 
him.  Occasions  were  not  wanting  that  enabled 
him  to  more  than  retaliate  on  them.  Once,  while 
an  opponent  was  speaking,  a  flock  of  Guinea  hens 
set  up  a  persistent  and  noisy  cry,  and  the  speaker 
paused  and  requested  that  some  one  would  oblige 
him  by  dispersing  the  fowls,  which  was  done, 
when  he  continued  his  speech  to  the  end  without 
so  much  as  mentioning  Crockett's  name.  This 
discourtesy  did  not  escape  Crockett's  attention, 
and  he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself  of  it.     When 


58  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

it  came  his  turn  to  speak  he  remarked,  **  Though 
my  opponent  did  not  see  fit  to  mention  my  name 
during  his  speech  once,  yet  my  little  feathered 
friends  did  not  forget  me  ;  but  when  they  came 
up  to  remind  the  gentleman  of  his  omission,  by 
crying  with  all  their  strength,  '  Crockett,  Crockett, 
Crockett,' he  was  so  offended  that  instead  of  tak- 
ing the  hint  and  saying  something  mean  of  me, 
he  had  them  stoned  off."  The  hit  carried  the  day 
for  the  witty  backwoodsman. 

In  a  more  dignified  way  Henry  Clay  turned  the 
frontiersmen  back  into  the  ranks  of  his  followers, 
after  they  had  been  prejudiced  and  induced  to  desert 
him  for  some  fancied  oversight  of  their  local  mat- 
ters. Meeting  them  on  their  own  ground  he  won 
the  confidence  of  one  of  their  leaders  so  far  as  to 
be  allowed  by  him  to  inspect  his  rifle,  which  he  bore 
with  him,  as  his  Teutonic  ancestors  were  wont 
to  do  to  their  assemblages.  Examining  the  gun 
Clay  inquired,  "  Is  it  true  to  its  aim?"  '*  Yes,  sir," 
emphatically  replied  the  owner.  **  But  did  it  never 
miss  fire?"  inquired  he.  "  Oh,  yes,  sir."  "What 
did  you. do?"  asked  Clay — "throw  it  away?" 
*'  Why,  no,"  replied  the  hunter,  ''  I  picked  the  flint 
and  tried  her  again."  "  Ah,  I  see,"  said  Clay,  as 
with  his  blandest  smile  and  most  gracious  manner 
he  pressed  the  weapon  back  into  the  hunter's 
hands,  "  and  will  you  throw  me  away  because  I 
missed  fire  once — wont  you  pick  the  flint  and  try 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS. 


59 


me  again  ?  "  The  smile  and  sophistry  won  ;  and  all 
the  frontiersmen  returned  to  the  following  of  the 
marvellous  "■  Harry  of  the  West." 

Abraham  Lincoln  entered  political  life  by  self- 
nomination,  seeking  an  election  to  the  Legislature 
of  Illinois  from  Sangamon  County.  His  opening 
speech  Is  preserved  by  his  biographer  as  follows : 

"■  Gentlemen  and  fellow-cltlzens,  I  presume  you 
all  know  who  I  am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. I  have  been  solicited  by  many  friends  to  be- 
come a  candidate  for  the  Legislature.  My  politics 
are  short  and  sweet,  like  the  old  woman's  dance. 
I  am  In  favor  of  a  national  bank  ;  I  am  In  favor  of 
the  Internal-Improvement  system  and  a  high  pro- 
tective tariff.  Those  are  my  sentiments  and  polit- 
ical principles.  If  elected  I  shall  be  thankful ;  If 
not,  It  will  be  all  the  same."  The  national  bank 
meant  sound  currency  for  his  prairie  friends,  and 
internal  improvement  meant  appropriations  for  the 
benefit  of  Sangamon  River,  the  immediate  water 
communication,  when  high  enough,  of  his  neigh- 
bors with  the  navigable  Mississippi.  But  he  was 
defeated.  At  the  next  election  he  canvassed  more 
successfully.  A  gentleman  relates  :  "  He  came  to 
my  house  near  Island  Green  during  harvest. 
There  were  some  thirty  men  in  the  field.  He  got 
his  dinner  and  went  out  in  the  field  where  the  men 
were  at  work.  I  gave  him  an  Introduction,  and  the 
boys  said  they  could  not  vote  for  a  man  unless  he 


6o  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

could  work  a  'hand.'  'Well,  boys,'  said  he,  *  if 
that  is  all,  I  am  sure  of  your  votes.'  He  took  hold 
of  a  cradle  and  led  all  the  way  around  the  field  with 
perfect  ease.  The  boys  were  satisfied,"  and,  the 
gentleman  adds,  "  I  don't  think  he  lost  one  of  their 
votes.     He  was  this  time  elected." 

Mr.  Lincoln's  subsequent  political  career  was 
that  of  a  regular  nominee  of  a  party  through  its 
caucuses,  and  his  speeches  from  the  stump  became 
exponents  of  party  measures  and  principles,  and 
were  not  only  effective  at  the  time  for  party  suc- 
cess, but  have  tended  greatly  to  fix  the  views 
of  the  people  and  the  policy  of  the  nation.  You 
see  in  them  no  attempt  to  accommodate  himself 
to  the  local  views  of  the  voters,  but  you  learn  of 
measures  that  pertain  to  all  alike.  On  national 
questions  he  advocated  principles  that  behooved 
the  nation  at  large  to  accept.  But  we  may  not 
altogether  measure  successful  men  by  the  meth- 
ods through  which  they  gained  success  in  polit- 
ical life.  If  Edmund  Burke  could  ask  a  man  to 
honor  him  with  his  vote  and  graciously  descend 
from  the  hustings  to  thank  him  for  giving  it  to 
him,  he  was  careful  enough  of  his  fame  as  a 
statesman  to  let  no  such  subserviency  appear  in 
his  conduct  in  the  House  of  Commons.  And 
Macaulay  could  sustain  his  rank  in  politics  as 
a  statesman,  in  literature  as  a  historian,  notwith- 
standing the  brutal  contest  in  Edinburgh.     Yet  it 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS.  6 1 

is  not  so  with  the  Samuel  Slumkeys.  As  to  them 
we  may  with  Httle  risk  of  disappointment  never  ex- 
pect them  to  rise  above  a  canvass  which  will  wit- 
ness the  Sir  Jameses  kissing  rude  women  in  public 
and  awaken  in  or  sentiments  for  '' auld  kirks"  that 
neither  Parliament  nor  a  general  public  will  ever 
hear  anything  about,  to  win  an  election.  A  man 
like  Crockett,  fighting  an  aristocratical  element 
opposed  to  him,  would  gain  doubtless  some  cultiva- 
tion in  manners  and  some  direction  to  his  native 
shrewdness,  and  possibly  prove  of  some  service  to 
his  country.  But  the  fact  is,  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  neither  attained  to  the  full  measure  of 
their  powers  and  usefulness,  and  the  free  use  of 
their  great  abilities,  until  they  were  past  hunting 
out  votes  and  compassing  the  prejudices  and  clan- 
nishnesses  of  their  supporters.  The  history  of  self- 
nominees  shows  them  to  be,  as  a  class,  inclined  to 
yield  to  local  opinions  that  have  the  least  unpop- 
ularity about  them,  and  to  avoid  controversy,  or, 
as  Burke  put  it,  ''  to  keep  silence  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  the  election  in  all  matters  of 
discussion,"  and  to  feel  their  way  and  move  in 
and  out  with  the  tide.  In  the  United  States,  while, 
down  to  the  anti-slavery  victory,  the  self-nominees 
of  the  South  monopolized  the  state  offices,  the 
caucus  nominees  advanced  the  leading  and  most 
abiding  measures  of  the  country,  so  strong  and 
assured  in  his  position  is  the  man  who  speaks  for 

f(    X^  Of    THE  ^ 

UNIVERSITY 


62  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

and  advocates  measures  of  party.  In  such  work 
the  organized  strength  of  the  party  sustains  him, 
and  he  is  not  embarrassed  by  fears  of  offence  given 
to  his  constituents.  It  is  not  expected  here  to 
abate  in  the  least  the  just  condemnation  of  the  ac- 
tion of  a  caucus  when  the  interests  of  an  individ- 
ual only  are  regarded.  In  such  cases  it  is  only 
another  form  of  self-nomination  with  the  advantage 
of  not  appearing  to  be  so,  but  appearing  as  the 
regular  candidate.  The  effort  here  is  to  show, 
though  never  so  weakly,  that  course  to  be  the  bane 
of  the  caucus.  And  when  there  is  self-seeking 
under  the  cloak  of  devotion  to  party  measures  in 
order  to  secure  the  party  nomination,  which  not 
unfrequently  occurs,  the  action  of  the  voter  is 
rightly  guided  if  he  makes  the  nomination  an 
empty  honor.  Nor  can  it  be  claimed  that  suit- 
able men  will  always  be  nominated  when  measures 
are  scrupulously  kept  in  view  and  govern  the  cau- 
cus action.  The  old  saying,  that  a  stream  will 
not  rise  higher  than  its  source,  is  fully  applicable 
to  politics.  In  an  unenlightened  neighborhood  a 
caucus  will  be  necessarily  ruled  by  unenlightened 
men,  and  its  representatives  will  come  from  that 
class  to  a  very  great  extent,  If  not  entirely. 
While  In  cultivated  neighborhoods  the  represent- 
atives will  be  of  their  stamp.  If  cultivated  men 
attend  the  caucus.  But  the  advantage  to  party 
is   the   same    in    either   case.     Both    classes  will, 


CA  UCUS  NOMINA  TIONS. 


63 


if  not  self-seekers,  support  party  measures  and  be 
faithful  to  party  principles  ;  while  the  advantage 
to  the  nominee  of  such  a  caucus  is,  that  he  will  have 
the  party  support.  He  need  not  demean  himself 
to  obtain  votes.  Indeed,  it  will  be  better  for  him 
if  he  does  not  disgust  his  party  friends  by  sinking 
his  manliness  in  unnecessary  eagerness  to  secure 
his  own  election. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    GROWTH    OF    THE    CAUCUS. 

Mr.  Seward  further  reflected,  that  the  caucus 
barely  received  by  the  Virginians  would  in  the  end 
abolish  their  glorious  system  of  self-nominations. 
pVnd  in  truth  the  caucus  has  grown  with  the  nation  : 
tor  like  it,  its  origin  is  with  the  people  who  speak 
through  the  caucus  and  their  representatives 
/chosen  at  it.  Spread  as  the  nation  is  over  thou- 
sands of  miles  of  territory,  there  manifestly  is  no 
opportunity  for  the  citizens  to  confer  together  ex- 
cept through  representatives  chosen  by  a  system 
so  organized  as  to  embrace  all  the  people  and  ex- 
press authoritatively  the  sentiment  of  every  local- 
ity. The  public  press  serves  the  very  useful 
purpose  of  making  known  what  transpires — scat- 
tering the  account  of  it  everywhere — and  of  the 
local  sentiment,  so  far  as  obtainable  from  public 
meetings,  resolutions  and  addresses.  But  the 
press  does  not  represent  the  people,  which  can  be 
done,  only,  by  that  organization  of  the  simplest 
form,  the  caucus.  The  sentiments  of  people  who 
compose  a  caucus  are  usually  formed  in  advance, 
and  they  meet  with  those  holding  similar  views  to 

64 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


65 


publicly  advocate  them — to  bring  out  still  greater 
action  and  union  in  their  behalf.  If  this  may  best 
be  done  by  choosing  representatives  to  meet  with 
the  representatives  of  the  caucuses  of  other  local- 
ities, such  will  be  the  course  pursued,  especially 
when  a  wide  field  is  aimed  at,  as  the  union  of  men 
of  like  sentiment  in  different  counties  and  states, 
and  the  concentration  of  the  political  sentiment  of 
the  whole  nation. 

Since  also  caucuses  and  conventions  make  nom- 
inations for  the  offices  of  the  territory  embraced 
within  their  jurisdiction,  it  will  be  the  fault  of 
those  who  should  attend  them  if  the  very  best  men 
are  not  nominated. 

When  the  colonies  cast  off,  politically,  the  moor- 
ings of  the  old  country  they  saved  themselves 
from  drifting  by  acting  upon  the  advice  of  the 
General  Congress,  to  forthwith  set  up  provisional 
governments  for  themselves,  severally.  In  some 
instances  they  continued  to  act  under  the  colonial 
charter,  dropping  the  royal  name  and  title  from 
their  proceedings  and  using  instead  the  name  and 
authority  of  the  commonwealth.  In  other  cases  a 
constitution  was  formed  and  adopted,  and  an  ex- 
ecutive officer,  to  serve  in  lieu  of  the  royal  ap- 
pointee, provided  for.  One  of  the  most  important 
questions  that  came  Immediately  to  the  front  for 
settlement  was  the  manner  in  which  the  person  to 
be   Invested  with  the  executive  office  should  be 

5 


^  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

selected.  They  sought  the  most  worthy  and  dis- 
creet. This  problem  was  attempted  to  be  solved 
in  various  ways.  There  were  legislative  assem- 
blies in  each  of  the  colonies  under  the  old  regime, 
chosen  by  the  yeomanry  :  and  as  a  general  rule 
local  officers,  elected  by  townships  and  parishes. 
There  was  also  a  governor  appointed  by  the  crown. 
The  state  of  Connecticut  adopted  the  plan  of 
choosing  in  the  first  instance  twenty  men,  from 
which  number,  by  another  ballot,  twelve  were 
chosen,  who  organized  themselves  into  a  council 
of  affairs  with  a  chairman  or  chief  executive  of  the 
council.  This  scheme  was  advocated  in  New  York, 
but  it  was  determined  there  to  give  the  election  of 
the  governor  directly  to  the  votes  of  the  people. 
In  other  respects  most  of  the  officers  in  New  York 
belonging  to  the  executive  department  of  govern- 
ment, civil  and  military,  were  appointive,  as  also 
were  the  judiciary  from  the  humblest  justice  of  the 
peace  to  the  supreme  chancellor.  These  appoin- 
tees were  so  numerous  in  New  York  that  they 
brought  the  appointing  power  directly  in  contact 
with  the  people  of  every  hamlet  of  the  state. 
Among  them  were  the  sheriffs,  coroners,  clerks, 
treasurers,  and  many  others,  provided  for,  by  char- 
ters of  towns  and  cities.  And  as  all  the  able- 
bodied  men  of  the  state  were  enrolled  in  the 
militia  and  were  officered  by  the  governor  and  his 
appointing  council,  it  left  very  few  people  not  im- 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


67 


mediately  reached  by  the  appointing  power  that 
had  Its  centre  In  the  governor's  office.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  state  was  thus  substantially  controlled 
by  the  governor,  George  Clinton.  He  was  an 
ardent  Whig,  a  native  of  the  state,  and  Its  first 
elected  governor.  He  had  served  with  consider- 
able distinction  In  an  expedition  against  the 
French,  had  been  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  was  commissioned  by  It  brigadier- 
general.  .  He  boldly  contested,  and  successfully, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  state  with  the  royal  gov- 
ernor, Tryon ;  and  the  appointing  power  In  his 
hands  was  used  by  him  very  effectively  to  that 
end.  Clinton's  love  for  liberty  and  his  native 
state  grew  with  his  service  in  its  behalf,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  war  he  opposed  the  yielding  up 
to  a  general  government  by  the  commonwealth 
any  of  the  advantages  growing  out  of  Its  position, 
extensive  territory,  magnificent  harbor  and  water 
ways,  which  gave  It  superiority  over  Its  sister 
states.  He  preferred  disunion  to  a  more  perma- 
nent union  of  the  states,  and  was  led  to  oppose  a 
convention  that  should  frame  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution. Although  governor  of  the  state,  he  was 
also  made  president  of  the  state  convention,  called 
to  ratify  that  instrument,  and  his  influence,  aided 
by  his  position,  came  near  defeating  it.  At  first  he 
seemed  to  lead  the  majority,  but  the  outcome  be- 
ing in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 


6s  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

the  Federalists  were  encouraged  by  that,  and  in 
1788  entered  the  field  and  opposed  his  re-election 
to  the  governorship.  They  commenced  by  making 
caucuses  of  the  people,  and  in  Feb.,  1789,  put 
Chief  Justice  Yates  in  nomination.  He  also  was 
originally  opposed  to  the  Federal  Constitution, 
but  upon  its  adoption  he  promptly  charged  the 
grand  jury  that  it  was  the  supreme  law  of  the  land 
and  must  be  obeyed.  Here  was  rare,  if  not  new 
experience  for  Governor  CHnton,  and  indeed  for 
the  yeomanry  of  the  state,  and  the  election  came 
near  ousting  him  from  his  seat.  In  1792  the 
Federalists  renewed  the  contest.  A  caucus  was 
called  in  the  City  of  New  York,  of  which  Peter 
Van  Ness  was  chairman.  John  Jay  was  by  it  nom- 
inated for  governor,  with  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer 
for  lieutenant-governor.  A  few  days  after  a  gen- 
eral meeting  was  held,  with  General  Ten  Broeck 
for  chairman,  at  which  Jay's  nomination  was  rati- 
fied enthusiastically.  Other  meetings  followed 
over  the  state,  at  all  of  which  Jay's  nomination  was 
heartily  endorsed.  In  the  mean  while  Clinton  was 
not  idle.  With  ofificers  appointed  by  him  in  every 
township  making  devoted  partisans  everywhere, 
meetings  were  held  in  his  behalf,  also,  and  the 
contest  became  animated.  Perhaps  for  the  first 
time  the  power  and  influence  of  local  meetings 
were  seen  and  felt  in  political  affairs  in  New  York. 
Clinton    endeavored  to  make  his  position  in  the 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  69 

executive  office  impregnable,  and  used  the  appoint- 
ing power  with  great  effect  to  render  it  so.  The 
large  vote  cast  for  Justice  Yates  three  years 
before  warned  him  that  he  must  maintain  his 
control  over  the  freemen  of  the  state  or  lose  his 
office,  and  he  was  assuredly  loth  to  lose  it. 

By  the  law  then  in  force  in  New  York  all  the 
ballots  of  the  state  were  taken  to  the  secretary  of 
state  to  be  deposited  for  counting,  and  the  result 
to  be  determined  by  a  committee  of  the  Legislat- 
ure. The  majority  of  this  committee  were  Clin- 
ton's adherents,  and,  as  it  was  well  known  that  Jay 
had  a  decided  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast,  this 
board  of  canvassers  became  exceedingly  anxious 
that  all  the  forms  of  proceedings  tending  to  secure 
regularity  should  be  observed  ;  and  finding  defects 
in  the  case  of  three  counties  in  which  Jay  had  re- 
ceived large  majorities  they  determined  by  a  strict 
party  vote  not  to  count  the  ballots  cast  by  those 
counties.  The  grounds  of  their  decision  appear  to 
have  been,  that  the  ballots  were  not  brought  to  the 
secretary  of  state  by  the  officer  designated  in  the 
statute  to  bring  them.  Their  reasoning  ran  thus  : 
"■  The  person  who  brought  the  ballot-boxes  to  the 
secretary  was  not  such  an  officer  as  the  statute 
designates  to  bring  them  to  the  secretary  of  state  ; 
that  he  could  not  bring  them  legally ;  that  the 
secretary  could  not  legally  receive  them  from  him  ; 
and  therefore  the  secretary  had  nothing  from  those 


70 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


counties  that  the  committee  could  canvass."  And 
what  appears  most  strange  In  this  remarkable 
transaction, — for  the  error  of  'transmission  of  the 
ballot-boxes  from  the  counties  to  the  state  office 
worked  of  Itself  no  corruption  of  the  ballots  sealed 
up  In  them,  and  there  was  no  dispute  over  their 
Identity,  nor  was  It  charged  the  ballots  had  been 
tampered  with, — Is  the  fact,  the  board  did  receive 
the  boxes  from  the  secretary  not  to  order  them  to 
be  returned  to  the  counties  for  re-transmlsslon  If 
that  act  was  vital,  but  to  decree  the  ballots  In  them 
should  be  destroyed  by  burning !  And  burned  by 
them  they  were. 

This  proceeding  roused  intense  excitement,  not 
only  in  the  three  counties  disfranchised,  but 
throughout  the  state.  Meetings  were  held  to 
**  canvass  the  canvassers,"  as  the  cry  was,  but 
which  threatened  more  serious  matters  to  the  pub- 
lic peace.  Jay  was  absent  at  the  time  the  can- 
vassers declared  Clinton  elected,  and  In  answer  to 
the  many  inflammatory  addresses  and  appeals  to 
him  he  counselled  acquiescence,  saying  in  his  re- 
ply, **  Every  consideration  of  propriety  forbids  that 
difference  of  opinion  respecting  candidates  should 
suspend  or  Interrupt  the  national  good  humor 
which  harmonizes  society  and  softens  the  asperi- 
ties incident  to  human  life."  And  to  his  wife  he 
wrote  :  "  A  few  years  will  put  us  all  In  the  dust, 
and  then  It  will  be  of  more  Importance  to  me  to 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


n 


have  governed  myself  than  to  have  governed  the 
state."  Recall  the  political  situation  in  New  York 
and  the  nation.  Washington  had  not  as  yet 
served  his  first  term  as  president.  There  was  still 
a  great  deal  of  friction,  not  only  in  the  public  mind 
but  in  the  machinery  of  government  slowly  work- 
ing its  way  into  public  confidence.  If  the  result  of 
elections  could  not  be  promptly  acquiesced  in  from 
the  start  the  whole  fabric  would  go  by  the  board, 
and  a  condition  of  chronic  anarchy  inaugurated,  as 
was  afterwards  developed  in  Mexico  and  South 
America.  Had  Jay  been  a  self-seeker,  a  self-nom- 
inee, a  chieftain  leading  his  forces  through  a  hard- 
won  political  campaign,  would  he  have  been  per- 
mitted to  pour  oil  on  the  waters  and  surrender  up 
the  fruits  of  the  victory  to  his  discomfited  oppo- 
nents ?  Many  instances  of  self-control  and  denial 
are  recorded,  but  it  will  be  a  distant  and  persever- 
ing search  that  will  find  a  parallel  to  the  entire 
disinterestedness  of  this  eminent  man. 

The  whole  vote  of  the  three  counties,  including 
those  cast  for  Clinton  as  well  as  for  Jay,  were 
burned,  thus  exposing  Clinton  to  the  charge  made 
by  Burke,  against  his  opponent — that  he  was  will; 
ing  to  slaughter  his  friends  to  destroy  his  enemy, 
for  the  reason  that  he  did  not  have  friends  enough. 
Why  a  man  who  had  reached  the  high  position 
held  by  Clinton,  through  valuable  services  to  his 
country,  should  have  countenanced,  much  less  ac- 


72 


THE  AMERICAN  CA  UCUS  SYSTEM. 


cepted  the  fruits  of  this  high-handed  proceeding 
can  hardly  be  answered  now.  PoHtlcal  moraHty 
has  grown  since  then  and  we  may  congratulate  our- 
selves upon  that  fact.  It  would  seem  that  a  long 
and  uninterrupted  lease  of  power  had  caused  Clin- 
ton to  think  it  necessary  that  he  should  continue 
to  be  the  governor  of  the  state.  He  had  seen  it 
emerge  from  a  colonial,  to  a  condition  promising 
imperial  power,  and  under  his  governorship,  and  a 
feeling  that  harm  would  come  to  his  beloved  com- 
monwealth if  the  baton  of  power  should  fall  from 
his  hands,  doubtless  possessed  him,  and  seemed  to 
him  to  justify  extraordinary  strictness  In  constru- 
ing the  statute  in  case  of  the  succession.  His 
confidence  In  his  co-patriots  was  thus  disturbed 
by  his  Intense  partisanship.  In  the  next  recurring 
election  Jay  was  triumphantly  elected,  and  the  ob- 
stinate Clinton,  after  eighteen  years  of  office,  went 
for  a  period  into  private  life.  That  the  state  did 
not  crush  Itself  upon  hidden  rocks  he  doubtless  at- 
tributed to  an  overseeing  and  forbearing  Provi- 
dence. Jay  succeeded  himself.  But  Clinton  suc- 
ceeded Jay,  and  again,  after  an  Interval  of  six 
years,  became  Governor  of  New  York.  In  1804 
he  was  elected  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
and  being  re-elected  in  1808,  died  In  office.  His 
most  important  act  while  vice-president  was  his 
casting  vote  that  defeated  the  re-chartering  the 
national  bank.     Clinton    served    under   the    Fed- 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  y^ 

eral  Constitution,  but  he  never  swerved  from  his 
orig^inal  animosity  to  it.  He  hated  it  because 
it  diminished  the  glory  of  New  York ;  and  he 
died  without  abating  his  hatred.  The  defeat  of 
the  charter  of  the  bank  brought  in  its  train  untold 
misery.  All  over  the  United  States  failures  en- 
sued, business  was  brought  to  a  standstill,  and  pov- 
erty and  distress  took  the  place  of  competency  and 
wealth  even.  The  distress  of  the  country  finally 
forced  from  its  reluctant  foes,  in  1816,  a  second 
charter,  which  aided  to  restore  confidence  and  re- 
sulting prosperity.  The  opposition  to  the  bank 
maintained  that  it  was  not  warranted  by  the  Con- 
stitution. It  did  not  occur  to  the  fiscal  depart- 
ment of  the  Government  then  that  the  defects,  if 
any,  in  the  powers  of  the  bank  might  be  obviated, 
and  the  system  of  national  banking,  so  necessary 
to  the  country,  be  preserved.  That  problem  was 
to  be  solved  later. 

Jay  on  retiring  from  the  gubernatorial  chair  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  but 
being  in  his  sixtieth  year,  and  concurring  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  limitation  in  the  constitution  of  the 
state  of  New  York  of  judges  to  60  years  of  age, 
and  as  he  was  one  of  the  framers  of  that  in- 
strument, he  declined  the  ofifice  and  retired  perma- 
nently to  private  life.  He  passed  29  years  in  rural 
life  on  his  estate  in  a  secluded  part  of  Westchester 
County,  New  York,  devoting  his  remaining  days 


74 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


to  acts  of  charity,  reform  and  moral  improvements, 
never  failinor  to  attend  elections,  even  the  minor 
ones,  casting  his  vote,  and  rejoicing  in  the  rapid 
growth  of  his  country  and  its  evident  prosperity, 
in  spite  of  crude  measures  and  the  poHtical  bhnd- 
ness  of  partisan  leaders.  In  his  address  in  1795, 
when  assuming  the  duties  of  governor,  he  said  he 
was  determined  to  regard  his  fellow-citizens  with 
an  equal  eye  and  to  cherish  and  advance  merit 
wherever  found.  He  refused  to  remove  from 
office  political  opponents  for  that  reason  only. 
On  being  asked  to  remove  a  Federalist  who  was 
an  indifferent  partisan  and  give  the  office  to  a  Clin- 
ton man  who  would  work  for  his.  Jay's,  interests, 
he  replied,  ''  Do  you,  sir,  advise  me  to  sell  a  friend 
to  buy  an  enemy?"  Hammond  says  Jay's  senti- 
ments were  noble,  but  **  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
neither  Jay  nor  any  other  person  holding  the 
appointing  power  could,  if  sincerely  disposed, 
carry  them  out  without  sacrifice  of  himself  and 
party."  And  such  seems  to  have  been  the  result. 
As  before  noted,  Clinton  regained  power  in  1801, 
and  in  the  triennial  renewal  of  commissions  to  the 
army  of  appointees  throughout  the  state,  reaching 
the  remotest  settlements, — rapidly  made  by  the 
streaming  emigration  westward, — he  sought  out 
friends  and  rejected  the  Indifferent  and  inimical. 
Once  more,  he  concentrated  the  public  power  in 
his  own  hands,  and  so  thoroughly  was  it  done  that 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


75 


a  long  lease  of  almost  absolute  political  control  of 
the  state  remained  with  him  and  survived  to  his 
party.  Indeed,  in  spite  of  disasters,  failures  of 
many  party  measures,  of  many  signal  local  defeats 
at  the  polls,  and  bitter  division  among  Its  own 
members — now  beginning  to  be  called  Democrats 
— hold  upon  the  executive  office  was  Impregnable. 
A  long  line  of  Democratic  governors  followed 
Clinton.  At  length  in  1824  the  opposition  rallied 
under  the  name  of  the  People's  Party,  and  Inaugu- 
rated a  series  of  caucuses  and  conventions  of  the 
people  throughout  the  state,  which  sent  to  the  city 
of  Utica  on  the  21st  of  September  an  Influential 
body  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  widely  known  as 
men  of  talent,  and  who  put  De  Witt  Clinton  In 
nomination  for  governor.  He  was  triumphantly 
elected,  and  was  also  made  his  own  successor.  In 
October,  1826,  the  Democrats,  to  oppose  Clinton, 
likewise  called  a  convention  of  delegates  from 
local  caucuses  and  conventions  to  meet  at  Her- 
kimer. From  this  period  the  primary  caucus  and 
state  and  local  conventions  have  supplanted  all 
other  methods  of  nominating  candidates  by 
that  party  In  New  York.  In  national  politics, 
owing  to  the  system  of  electors  for  choosing  a 
president,  an  insurmountable  barrier  has  been 
Interposed  to  self-nomination  for  the  presidency, 
and  the  country  has  been  spared  the  Infliction  of 
doubtless  thousands  of  such  candidates  seeking  it. 


76  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

With  the  exception  of  Washington  and  John 
Adams,  who  were  the  free  choice  of  the  electors 
themselves,  no  president  has  been  chosen  without 
having  been  first  designated  for  the  office  by  rep- 
resentatives of  the  party  whose  nominee  he  was. 
Some  members  of  Congress  in  1796  for  the  first 
time  ventured  to  make  such  a  designation.  The 
need  of  concentrating  all  the  opposition  to  Adams 
was  the  moving  cause  of  the  act.  Jefferson  was 
by  them  nominated,  but  failed  of  election.  The 
scheme  was  renewed  in  1800,  and  prospered  so 
well  that  its  nominee,  Jefferson,  was  successful, 
and  from  that  time  it  was  continued  until  the  ten- 
tative people's  conventions  of  representatives  from 
primary  caucuses  and  conventions  became  popular 
and  strong  enough  to  drive  congressional  nomi- 
nees from  the  field.  The  Democrats  summoned  a 
general  or  national  convention  in  1832  and  en- 
dorsed Jackson's  second  nomination  for  the  pres- 
idency. William  Wirt  had  been  nominated  early 
in  1 83 1  for  president  by  a  convention  of  persons 
opposed  to  secret  societies,  especially  to  Free- 
masonry. This  opposition  to  social  secret  societies 
soon  run  its  course,  proving  utterly  insufficient  to 
bind  together  for  any  considerable  time  a  political 
party.  Indeed,  the  folly  of  attempting  to  build 
up  a  national  party  upon  a  mere  prejudice  is  now 
very  apparent,  however  it  may  have  appeared  to 
the  politicians  of  '32.     But  the  movement  threw 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


77 


up  into  public  life  several  distinguished  men,  who 
proved  to  be  wiser  than  the  feeling  of  alarm,  on 
account  of  the  spread  of  Masonry,  that  gave  them 
their  votes. 

Since  1832  the  regular  nominations  of  parties! 
having  more  than  a  momentary  existence,  have 
uniformly  been  made  through  caucuses  and  con- 
ventions. 

That  the  caucus  through  which  the  people  can 
speak  would  supplant  the  ''glorious  system  of 
self-nominations,"  limited  as  we  have  seen  them 
to  be,  and  humiliating  as  it  necessarily  Is  to  a 
worthy  man,  and  fruitful  of  the  lowest  practices 
in  winning  votes,  Mr.  Seward  had,  as  the  history 
shows,  good  reason  to  foretell. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PROCEEDINGS   OF    THE   CAUCUS. 

An  eminent  American  publicist*  has  said,  re- 
flecting upon  the  nature  of  the  caucus,  *'  Theoret- 
ically it  may  be  defined  as  a  deliberative  meeting 
of  citizens  for  consull:ation  with  a  view  to  deter- 
mine the  course  of  public  action."  And  he  adds, 
''  To  suppose  calm  deliberation  by  men  who  man- 
age the  caucus  is  to  suppose  that  which  to  them 
would  be  an  absurdity  ;  their  task  is  simple  enough, 
is  management  and  artifice,  under  the  maxim,  all 
is  fair  to  obtain  a  majority  of  the  votes  that  on  a 
certain  occasion  shall  be  put  in  a  box  or  hat.  It 
is  not  important  that  the  voting  shall  represent 
intelligence  or  morality,  or  be  those  of  rightful 
voters,  it  is  enough  that  they  count  and  give  di- 
rection to  the  political  machinery  that  turns  out 
here  a  constable  or  a  justice,  there  a  sheriff  or  a 
recorder  of  deeds,  and  a  little  further  on  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress." 

But  it  must  not  be  overlooked,  that  the  manage- 
ment and  artifice  referred  to  are  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent the  result  of  earnest  consultation  and  not  im- 
*  Hon.  T.  M.  Cooley,  Ch.  Justice  of  Michigan. 
78 


I'ROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


79 


possibly  of  calm  deliberation,  had  before  the  cau- 
cus meets,  that  the  men  who  attend  the  caucus 
thus  prepared,  necessarily  give  direction  to  the 
political  machinery  as  against  the  undecided  and 
unprepared.  Now  all  electors,  good  and  bad,  can 
think  about  politics  and  the  direction  to  be  given 
to  the  political  machinery  before  the  caucus  meets, 
wherefore  there  appears  to  be  no  practical  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  the  best  results,  except  it  be  to 
rally  a  majority  of  the  voters  at  the  caucus  to  sup- 
port the  best. 

Practically  more  reliance  is  placed  upon  the 
better  sentiment  of  the  community  to  so  influence 
the  direction  of  the  caucus  that  the  worse  will  not 
always  happen  than  is  placed  upon  the  votes  of 
those  who  complain.  But  if  free  course  is  given 
to  the  political  striker,  why  complain  that  he  is 
turning  out  things  to  his  own  liking,  that  he  does 
not  nominate  the  best  men,  but  himself  for  office  ? 
If  what  those  complaining  say  of  the  caucus  is 
wholly  true,  is  it  not  a  matter  of  great  surprise 
that  its  results  are  not  worse  than  they  actually 
are  ?  The  better  sentiment  of  the  community 
must  certainly  be  felt  within  its  doors  or  the  aver- 
age politician  is  not  as  unpatriotic  as  he  is  charged 
with  being.  This  critic  further  says  :  "In  short, 
the  caucus  as  a  practical  fact  is  often  as  far  as 
possible  from  those  famous  town-meetings  of  New 
England  which  a  century  ago  were  accustomed  to 


8o  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

gather  at  the  town-hall  or  the  town-common  and 
discuss  with  freedom  and  intelligence  public  ques- 
tions in  which  Otis,  Warren  and  Samuel  Adams 
made  themselves  immortal." 

But  public  discussion  at  town-meetings  is  not 
yet  altogether  a  lost  habit,  as  any  one  may  testify, 
who  is  familiar  with  the  proceedings  from  actual 
attendance  upon  them.  The  change  that  has 
taken  place  since  a  century  ago,  has  relegated  the 
discussion  of  public  questions  in  a  great  measure 
to  the  press  and  the  "stump."  Still,  such  ques- 
tions are  yet  discussed,  indeed  critically  considered 
in  respect  to  their  bearing  upon  the  home  and 
rights  of  individuals,  commencing  at  the  fireside 
and  in  the  family  circle. 

"  In  the  long  nights 
When  at  my  father's  house  the  chief  people 

Came And  of  the  land's  weal 

Considered  in  understanding  speech 
Oft  marking,  heard  I  many  words  of  wisdom 
Which  the  wise  thought  and  the  good  wished, 
And  in  my  heart  have  treasured." 

And  there  is  little  danger  of  an  elector  being 
found  without  an  opinion  at  a  caucus,  if  he  chooses 
to  attend  and  exercise  it.  And  when  occasion  calls 
for  discussion  there  is  not  wanting  those  who  have 
an  opinion  to  express  if  opportunity  is  given. 
Oftentimes,  too,  the  discussion  is  conducted  on  a 
high  and  intelligent  plane.     Consider  the  follow- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  gl 

ing  extract  from  a  verbatim  report  of  a  modern 
caucus  speech.  It  was  called  out  by  the  refusal  of 
certain  resident  electors  to  participate  in  the  cau- 
cus because  they  held  government  appointments 
and  were  under  the  orders  of  the  President  forbid- 
ding all  government  employees  from  participating 
in  political  caucusing. 

-'  While  we  are  compelled,"  the  speaker  said, 
*'  to  admit  the  great  force  of  all  that  can  be  said 
in  favor  of  civil  service  reform,  yet  we  see  in  its 
operation  a  great  danger  to  the  Republican 
party.  ...  It  would  be  a  melancholy  collapse  of 
the  new  system  if  we,  weakened  by  its  working, 
should  fail  in  retaining  the  administration  in  our 
hands  and  should  find  the  rules  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice reform  swept  away  through  the  success  of 
the  Democrats,  and  the  old  order  of  things  re- 
stored, and  we  laughed  at  for  wearing  the  rope 
with  which  to  hang  ourselves.  Our  hope  must  be 
in  bringing  in  others  to  take  the  place  of  those  we 
lose  :  and  yet  I  confess  I  have  not  much  faith  in 
interesting  those  personally  who  now  only  nomi- 
nally do  so,  to  take  a  more  active  part  with  us,  and 
r,hare  our  labors.  Let  every  citizen  who  believes 
in  the  attempt  to  establish  civil  service  reform, 
look  to  it  that  he  gives  us  his  aid  and  assistance  to 
compensate  for  our  loss." 

It  Is  apparent,  the  alarm  felt  by  the  speaker  for 
the  success  of  his  party  and  its  possession  of  the 


82  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

administration  of  the  government,  arose  not  only 
from  the  workings  of  the  President's  order,  ex- 
cluding those  in  the  service  of  the  nation  from  all 
participation  in  the  caucus,  but  also  from  the  in- 
difference of  others  to  the  service  they  could  ren- 
der their  party  by  attendance  upon  the  caucus, 
and  who  profess  to  believe  in  civil  service  reform, 
and  that  it  should  become  the  practice  of  the  na- 
tion through  the  efforts  of  the  Republican  party. 
His  argument  is  not  against  the  civil  service 
system,  but  is  a  call  upon  those  who  claim  to  be 
its  friend  and  the  friend  of  pure  politics  to  do 
their  duty  and  accomplish  all  they  advocate  by 
attendance  on  the  party  caucus,  and  not  imperil 
success  by  their  neglect  to  attend.  Certainly  he 
discusses  a  governmental  matter.  Samuel  Adams 
in  his  day  discussed  *'  no  taxation  without  rep- 
resentation," and  urged  those  who  believed  in 
that  policy  to  come  forward  and  join  him  in  his 
efforts  to  enforce  it,  and  not  jeopardize  his  work 
by  withholding  their  aid.  Undoubtedly  Ameri- 
cans were  more  disposed  to  public  discussion  of 
measures  at  their  meetings  in  Adams'  time,  when 
the  press  was  less  serviceable,  than  they  now  are. 

Furthermore,  the  mass  of  political  questions 
which  arise  are  of  a  temporary  nature,  though 
some  of  them  seem  to  act  as  forerunners  of  still 
greater  ones  that  at  intervals  come  up  for  action. 
But  it  will  be  recollected  as  a  matter  of  history 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  8^ 

that  the  caucus  which  met  in  Tom  Dawes'  garret  in 
1772  smoked,  drank  flip,  discussed  public  affairs 
and  made  choice  of  men  for  office  before  they  were 
voted  for  at  the  polls,  put  Samuel  Adams  in  nomi- 
nation and  secured  his  election  as  representative 
from  Boston. 

The  critic  of  the  caucus  before  quoted  also  re- 
marks that  the  deliberations  of  the  caucus  **  are 
often  of  a  sort  in  which  trained  muscle  is  of  more 
importance  than  trained  intellect."  Doubtless 
when  men  go  into  caucus  with  their  minds  made 
up  they  are  more  impatient  at  discussion  and 
opposition  than  when  unsettled  and  meditating. 
This  occurs  everywhere  in  life.  A  caucus  scene 
is  sketched  by  a  New  York  reporter  as  follows : 

''  Last  night  the  factions  mustered  in  force,  and 
truth  to  say,  there  seemed  to  be  very  little  choice 
between  them  either  as  to  their  appearance  or 
methods.  Long  before  seven  o'clock  there  was  a 
great  crowd  in  line  outside  the  door  of  the  hall, 
and  the  moment  the  doors  were  thrown  open  the 
hall  was  filled.  At  one  end  was  a  table  on  which 
the  ballot-box  was  placed,  and  across  the  room 
about  a  foot  in  front  of  this  a  strong  wooden  par- 
tition about  four  feet  high  had  been  fixed.  In 
front  of  this  was  a  line  of  police  who  had  hard 
work  to  keep  the  rough  crowd  from  flying  at  each 
other's  throats.  The  row  commenced  the  instant 
the  meeting  opened  in  the  contest  in  the  election 


84  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

of  officers.  This  was  accomplished  and  the  polls 
were  opened,  and  from  that  moment  until  past 
eleven  there  was  nothing  but  howling,  shouting, 
cheering,  and  every  species  of  noise  that  leather- 
bound  throats  were  capable  of.  Both  sides  seemed 
ready  to  run  in  all  the  men  they  could,  and  each 
challenged  the  other  the  whole  evening  through. 
Twice  the  police  charged  through  the  room  and 
somewhat  thinned  the  dense  crowd  and  let  in 
some  fresh  air.  There  were  two  tickets  in  the 
field.  The  voting  continued  until  ten  fifty-five, 
when  the  polls  were  declared  closed  amid  loud 
shouting  and  cheering.  The  next  thing  was  the 
counting  the  ballots,  and  the  quiet  of  expectancy 
reigned  through  the  room.  It  was  found  that  the 
result  of  nearly  three  hours'  voting  was  just  sev- 
enty-four votes  cast.  At  least  two  hundred  men 
had  been  around  the  polls  all  the  evening.  The 
chairman  of  the  meeting  announced  the  result, 
which  he  did  amid  frantic  cheering  by  the  winning 
party.  Then  followed  an  example  of  that  most 
satisfactory  phase  of  our  politics.  The  very  men 
who  for  two  hours  had  been  glaring  at  each  other 
and  quarrelling  like  tigers,  all  fell  to  shaking 
hands,  the  outside  crowd  cheered  the  successful, 
and  then  the  beaten  candidate  with  equal  hearti- 
ness, and  good  humor  appeared  to  prevail  all 
around."     Another  life-sketch  made  by  the  corre- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  g^ 

spondent  of  a  Chicago    daily  of   a   scene  which 
transpired  in  the  city  of  London : 

*'  Last  evening  we  witnessed  what  an  American 
would  call  a  caucus  to  promote  the  election  of 
three  candidates  for  membership  of  the  Board  of 
Education  for  the  Marylebone  division  or  West 
End  of  London.  A  large  hall  was  completely 
filled  with  well-dressed  and  intelligent  gentlemen 
and  ladies.  The  candidates  were  each  men  of 
high  standing,  one  belonging  to  a  noble  family 
but  of  liberal  principles,  and  another  the  president 
of  the  college  in  Regent's  Park.  The  chair  was 
occupied  by  a  clergyman  of  considerable  repute 
in  London.  Everything  would  lead  us  to  antici- 
pate a  quiet  evening  of  instruction  on  political 
issues.  But  no  sooner  had  the  speaking  com- 
menced than  there  ensued  a  scene  of  noise  and 
confusion  which  beggars  description.  Every  sen- 
tence of  the  speakers  was  followed  or  interrupted 
by  outcries  of  approval  or  disapproval  or  by  vol- 
unteered remarks  from  the  floor  which  sounded 
more  like  boys  disputing  over  base-ball  than  like 
an  adult  'audience.'  Occasionally  these  outcries 
were  hushed  by  a  simultaneous  hiss  when  the 
speaker  uttered  something  which  the  crowd  par- 
ticularly desired  to  hear,  and  again  they  were 
drowned  by  a  thundering  of  canes  and  boot-heels 
on  the  floor  of  the  hall.  This  hubbub  reached  Its 
climax  when  at  the  end  of  the  speech-making  the 


86  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

'audience'  were  invited  to  question  the  candi- 
dates. You  must  know  that  the  assembly  was 
composed  almost  entirely  of  friends  of  the  candi- 
dates and  of  the  advanced  policy  which  they  rep- 
resented. And  yet  the  first  man  who  got  up  to 
ask  questions  threw  a  fire-brand  into  the  crowd  by 
declaring  that  a  report  was  current  that  one  of  the 
candidates  was  an  avowed  atheist,  and  demandino^ 
that  he  then  and  there  define  his  position  upon 
that  point.  The  candidate  refused  to  be  cate- 
chized, and  the  uproar  which  followed  from  the 
bellowing  forth  conflicting  opinions  can  find  no 
parallel  in  America  unless  it  be  in  the  New  York 
gold-room  on  a  black  Friday." 

In  these  scenes  we  recognize  the  wild  Teutons 
who  were  wont  to  assemble  at  the  full  moon  in 
ancient  Germany  to  discharge  their  political  du- 
ties and  enliven  the  proceedings  by  pounding  on 
their  shields  when  approving,  and  groaning  under 
them  when  disapproving.  Their  descendants  in 
England  and  America,  whether  in  broadcloth  or 
in  work-clothes,  whether  with  their  wives  or  with- 
out, obey  the  ancestral  habit  and  preserve  the 
right  to  enjoy  themselves  by  making  a  noise.  It 
is  needless  to  remark,  however,  that  men  ca7i  be 
quiet  in  public  as  well  as  in  private,  though  it  may 
require  some  greater  exercise  of  self-denial  to  do 
I  so.  But  if  they  will  not  they  cannot  in  all  fair- 
ness make  their  dereliction  in  that  respect  an  ex- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  87 

cuse  for  not  attending  the  caucus.  It  is  also  ob-l 
jected  that  the  ''caucus  is  likely  to  meet  in  places\ 
into  which  the  best  men  in  the  community  never  j 
enter."  To  this  comes  the  ready  answer  that  the 
best  men  can  select  their  own  place  of  meeting  if 
it  be  but  the  public  common.  Indeed  it  ought  to 
be  definitely  understood  by  ''the  best  men,"  cer- 
tainly, that  only  criminals  seek  to  avoid  the  light, 
and  that  as  a  general  rule  men  choose  to  be  in 
good  company  and  in  good  places :  and  the  per- 
petrators of  censurable  political  acts  always  cast 
about  for  the  support  of  these  "best  men"  to  help 
them  through  with  the  people.  They  challenge 
this  support  on  the  ground  of  "  regularity,"  and 
their  success  in  obtaining  it  is  the  fault  of  the 
"  best  men,"  who  too  frequently,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, are  found  supporting  political  evils  by  sup- 
porting those  who  concoct  them.  A  marked  illus- 
tration of  that  fact  is  found  in  the  history  of 
American  slavery. 

All  through  the  North  were  men,  who,  though 
trained  in  the  light  and  benefits  of  universal  free- 
dom, yet,  for  party  success,  gave  their  vote  and 
influence  in  behalf  of  pro-slavery  candidates  for 
ofifice  :  and  so  strong  is  party  bias  that  we  still  see 
men  who  are  favored  for  public  positions  on  the 
ground  of  their  devotion  to  that  evil  now  happily 
removed  ;  and  that  monuments  are  erected  to  the 
memory  of  those  whose  zeal  in  behalf  of  slavery  in 

CNIVEBSITI 


88  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

council  and  war  was  pre-eminent.  But  we  may 
add,  that  such  is  the  innate  love  of  mankind  for 
justice  and  freedom,  in  due  time  such  devotion  will 
take  its  place  among  things  regarded  only  with 
horror.  The  sword  that  was  drawn  and  made  wet 
with  blood  in  behalf  of  slavery  is  to  hang,  side  by 
side,  with  the  whip  that  scarred  the  slave's  back. 
The  monument  that  is  erected  over  the  grave  of 
the  slave  dealer's  champion  will  awaken  pain  and 
sorrow  in  the  breast  of  those  through  whose  veins 
his  blood  descends.  We  now  apologize  for  our 
fathers,  who  in  the  days  of  the  Puritans  laid  the 
whip  upon  the  Quakers'  backs :  and  those  coming 
after  us  will  apologize  no  less  earnestly  for  them 
who  took  life  that  slavery  might  be  perpetuated. 
History  does  not  honor  that  citizen  who  overlooks 
grave  evils  that  his  party  may  carry  an  election. 

If  the  '*  best  men  "  stay  away  from  the  caucus, 
they  should  be  as  ready  to  withhold  their  support 
from  the  work  of  the  caucus  which  they  have  rea- 
son to  condemn.  All  mingle  in  common  citizen- 
ship, and  there  is  imposed  upon  all  alike  the  same 
duties  to  the  country.  Upon  the  best  citizens 
are  imposed  the  greater  burden,  as  their  talents, 
wealth  and  opportunities  permit  of  political  duty 
not  the  least  of  which  is  to  give  the  right  direction 
to  political  machinery  by  due  attendance  upon  the 
assembly  that  controls  it. 
\Itis  further  objected  that  citizens  alone  do  not 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


•89 


compose  the  caucus.^  ''  Jew  and  Gentile,  the  citi- 
zen who  is,  and"  fhe  patriot  who  in  advance  is 
fitting  himself  to  be  a  citizen  by  voting  as  oppor- 
tunity offers,  are  all  likely  to  be  welcomed  if 
known  to  be  sound  and  safe."  This  is  so  where 
the  best  men  fail  to  be  present  and  to  exercise  the 
corrective  right  of  challenge  :  a  wearisome  labor 
may  be  ;  but  it  is  only  the  ease  with  which  such 
votes  may  be  polled  that  causes  them  to  be 
offered.  To  guard  against  this  as  well  as  other 
wrongs  is  simply  the  plain  duty  of  every  citizen  : 
the  knowledge  of  its  existence  calls  upon  them  to 
remove  it  by  preventing  its  exercise. 

It  has  also  been  said  the  caucus  is  a  ''great  po 
litical  power  in  the  land,  but  unknown  to  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  laws,  and  this  ought  to  render  it 
an  object  of  suspicion,  for  extra  constitutional 
powers  are  always  dangerous."  Since  the  fathers 
of  the  republic  have  left  recorded,  that  we  owe  our 
separation  from  Great  Britain  to  the  caucus  which 
always  has  and  will  exist  in  a  free  country,  we 
cannot  expect  to  dismiss  it  from  public  use.  And 
it  clearly  appearing  that  the  danger  pointed  out 
exists  only  when  the  caucus  is  given  over  to  the 
control  of  the  unpatriotic  and  its  work  supported 
by  the  patriotic  for  party  purposes,  it  assuredly 
can  be  obviated  by  the  presence  there  of  the  best 
men  who  have  no  excuse  to  be  derelict  in  that 
duty.     True,  it  may  prove  disagreeable  to  contend 


go  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

against  the  turbulent  element  of  a  community  for 
that  which  is  best  for  all,  yet  it  is  highly  useful, 
and  can  be  regarded  only  as  very  honorable,  to  do 
so  :  and  it  is  about  the  only  way  good  laws  and 
good  rulers  can  be  secured.  An  eminent  clergy- 
man of  a  large  and  flourishing  society  In  Chicago  * 
has  published  these  golden  words  :  *'  There  Is  no 
better  place  for  ministers,  elders,  deacons,  class- 
leaders  and  vestrymen  to  make  proof  of  their 
moral  value  In  the  community  than  in  those  places 
where  the  determinating  steps  are  taken  as  to  who 
shall  be  our  rulers,"  and,  *'  the  better  class  of  citi- 
zens must  take  their  characters  and  persons  and 
apparel  down  to  those  places,  and  with  unflinching 
courage  cast  in  the  disinfectants.  One  need  not 
be  a  partisan,  selfish  or  vulgar,  because  his  sur- 
roundings are  tainted."  Also  a  very  keen  observer 
of  long  experience  and  a  worker  In  the  primaries 
of  New  York  City  being  asked,  *'  Is  it  not  possible 
for  the  rougher  class  often  to  get  control  of  the 
caucus  and  prevent  reputable  people  from  voting  ?  " 
answered,  ''  Certainly,  when  they  are  in  the  major- 
ity." He  had  seen  it  done,  but,  he  added,  when 
the  better  class  saw  their  duty  In  the  right  light 
and  took  part  for  the  right  principles  the  attempts 
of  the  rougher  class  uniformly  failed.  A  rowdy 
never  expects  to  carry  a  caucus  for  himself  merely 
— at  least,  only  In  a  limited  field,  for  he  knows  he 
*  Rev.  Dr.  Wishard. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  qj 

would  fail  of  popular  support.  But  he  labors  for 
some  one  who  has  a  reputable  standing  before  the 
world  and  who  will  accept  his  support  and  reward 
him  for  it.  Such  alliances  are  dangerous  to  the 
public  welfare,  and  the  fault  lies  here,  as  in  many 
other  cases,  with  the  persons  who  can  if  they 
choose  correct  it. 

But,  if  the  archaic  element  cannot  be  restrained 
by  wholesome  respect  for  public  opinion  at  the 
caucus,  the  police  can  be  called  in,  and  the  general 
statute,  making  it  a  misdemeanor  to  disturb  a  law- 
ful assembly  of  the  people,  invoked. 

Attempts  have  been  made  and  schemes  are  in 
operation  in  some  localities  to  regulate  the  call- 
ing and  holding  of  caucuses  by  statute.  A  well 
known  politician  of  Michigan,*^'  in  an  interesting 
communication  to  the  public,  suggests  that  politi- 
cal bodies  should  be  treated  in  law  **  after  the 
manner  of  corporations,  recognize  the  party  as 
a  political  subdivision  or  quasi  corporation  and 
make  provision  for  the  manner  of  selecting  its 
candidates  as  the  law  provides  for  the  number 
and  manner  of  selecting  county  and  city  officers." 
For,  he  urges,  "  it  is  just  as  competent  for  the  law 
to  divide  the  people  by  party  as  by  geographical 
lines,  by  lines  of  sentiment  and  opinion  as  by  lines 
of  the  compass,"  and  he  would  have  ''the  state,  by 
proper  constitutional  provisions  and  statutory  en- 
*  Hon.  Chas.  S.  May. 


92 


THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


actments,  provide  for  all  primary  meetings  of  any 
party;  e,g,  (i)  That  the  proper  committee  shall 
give  due  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  caucus 
and  the  business  to  be  transacted.  (2)  That 
ballot-boxes  be  furnished  and  a  register  kept.  (3) 
That  in  case  of  challenge  the  voter  shall  make 
oath  that  he  voted  the  party  ticket  at  the  last  elec- 
tion :  and  that  perjury  may  be  predicated  on  his 
oath.  (4)  That  the  person  having  a  majority  of 
the  vote  at  the  caucus  shall  be  declared  duly 
elected.  (5)  That  a  committee  act  as  judges  and 
inspectors  of  the  voting  and  make  certified  state- 
ments thereof." 

Other  systems  have  been  devised  and  some  are 
in  use,  among  which  is  one  that  requires  a  list  of 
all  the  legal  electors  affiliating  with  the  party 
within  a  given  district  to  be  made,  and  on  the  day 
of  the  caucus  for  choosing  delegates  or  for  nomi- 
nating local  officers,  polls  are  opened  and  kept 
open  for  the  day,  at  which  any  of  the  so  listed 
electors  may  vote.  Also,  in  large  cities  especially, 
members  of  the  party  of  each  assembly  district  or 
other  division  of  the  city,  club  together  or  asso- 
ciate themselves  into  a  partisan  club,  thus  creat- 
ing a  permanent  organization  for  party  purposes. 
New  members  are  affiliated  after  proposal  and  fa- 
vorable report  from  a  committee  appointed  upon 
their  application.  If  a  member  is  faithless  to  the 
party  he  is  expelled  or  stricken  from  the  club  roll. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS.  qo 

The  officers  of  the  club  are  chosen  periodically, 
and  the  proceedings  are  kept  after  the  manner  of 
regularly  organized  bodies.  These  clubs  do  all 
the  work  of  caucuses,  choose  and  send  delegates 
to  party  conventions  and  make  nominations  for 
local  office  ;  but  without  specifying  further,  it  will 
be  seen  that  these  systems  lose  sight  of  the  vol- 
untary democratic  nature  of  a  distinctive  caucus 
assembly.  This  peculiarity  of  the  caucus  is  easily 
sunk  in  regulations  or  lost  sight  of  in  formularies 
that  may  protect  the  associaters  from  imposition, 
as  an  army  is  protected  from  traitors  by  the  rules 
of  war.  These  regulations  tend  inevitably  to  an 
exclusive  working  in  the  interest  of  the  active  and 
aspiring  members,  while  the  real  caucus  is  the  freest 
and  most  democratic  of  all  oopular  instifiittnf|<^.  a 
quality  without  which,  the  caucus  ceases  forthwith 
to  be  that  ''  imperia  within  an  imperia,"  noted  by 
the  experienced  Adams,  and  becomes  a  machine. 
Possibly  at  such  ultimate  democratic  assem- 
blies, *'one  must  make  up  his  mind  to  hear  a  large 
amount  of  senseless  talk,  to  witness  a  considerable 
quantity  of  attempted  trickery,  to  hear  some  things 
profane  and  vulgar,  to  have  his  clothes  and  person 
saturated  with  tobacco-smoke,  to  inhale  an  atmos- 
phere reeking  with  almost  everything  unchristian," 
to  quote  the  description  given  by  the  clergyman 
above  referred  to  ;  yet  as  a  successful  general  can- 
not stand  aloof  and  fight  his  raw  levies,  and  win 


94  ^-^^  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

victories,  so  cannot_  the  best^  citizen  win  an  elec- 
tion,  and  refuse  political  affiliation  with  his  crude 
neighbor  and  would-be  fellow-partisan. 

There  seems  to  be,  however,  a  practical  way  of 
rjeducing  all  these  annoyances  and  miscarriages  of 
tjhe  caucus  to  the  minimum.  It  is  this  :  avoid  lar^e 
kssemblie^,.^  Do  not  bring  the  electors  oFa  large 
^nd  populous  district  into  one  caucus.  Increase 
the  number  of  caucuses  by  assigning  so  small  a  ter- 
ritory to  its  jurisdiction  that  the  number  of  all  the 
electors  within  it  will  not  be  too  great  for  every 
resident  to  be  known  by  sight  to  his  fellows.  This 
may  be  easily  effected  in  the  country,  as  a  cau- 
cus there  can  be  assigned  for  each  small  political 
division,  as,  for  example,  a  school  district.  The 
members  of  the  party  within  such  limited  territory 
can  easily  get  together  at  the  schoolhouse  or  at  a 
neighbor's  house,  and  elect  one  or  more  delegates 
to  a  township  or  county  convention,  as  the  require- 
ment may  be.  This  will  work  without  much  fric- 
tion, and  the  best  men  of  the  district  can  always 
and  easily  meet  with  their  next-door  neighbors, 
and  consult  with  them  very  near  home.  In  the 
cities  and  large  towns,  where  it  is  not  possible, 
owing  to  the  density  of  the  population,  for  each 
man  to  well  know  all  his  neighbors  as  it  is  in  the 
country,  yet  many  of  the  evils  complained  of  there 
can  be  obviated  by  the  small  caucus  district.  Let 
the  districts  be  as  small  as  the  situation  admits  of 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CAUCUS. 


95 


for  gathering  together  the  resident  electors.  If  it 
is  necessary  to  invoke  the  law-making  power  to 
effect  it  let  it  be  done,  and  the  chances  are,  less 
complaint  will  arise  from  such  action  than  from 
regulations  established  by  statute  for  opening  a 
caucus,  and  which  may  involve  an  election  in  liti- 
gation on  the  ground  that  they  have  not  been  prop- 
erly complied  with.  Give  a  caucus  to  every  one, 
two  or  three  blocks  of  the  city,  requiring  one  for 
one  hundred,  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  of 
people — three  hundred  should  be  the  maximum 
number  ;  some  hall,  or  common,  or  street  corner  to 
be  the  place  of  meeting.  Then  with  a  list  of  the 
legal  electors  of  the  caucus  district  the  opportuni- 
ties for  fraud  will  be  reduced,  as  well  as  all  other 
evil  work.  The  duty  of  such  a  caucus  will  be  sim- 
ply to  choose  delegates  to  represent  the  electors 
in  a  ward  or  city  convention,  which  can  speedily  be 
disposed  of  and  men  of  character  selected.  If  the 
present  statutes  are  not  sufficient  to  prevent  dis- 
turbance one  could  be  enacted  giving  to  the  of- 
ficers of  the  caucus  power  to  arrest  offenders  and 
bring  them  before  a  justice  or  other  official  for  pun- 
ishment. Poll  lists  can  be  kept  and  all  illegal  votes 
offered  be  challenged  and  excluded.  The  adminis- 
tration of  an  oath  can  be  provided  for,  sanctioned 
by  the  pains  or  penalties  of  perjury.  With  such 
small  caucus  districts  and  confinement  of  each  elec- 
tor to  his  own,  the  best  men  of  the  worst  cities  and 


q6  T^HE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

of  the  worst  portions  of  any  city  or  large  town  can, 
if  they  so  elect,  make  the  surroundings  of  their 
caucus  uniformly  tolerable,  and  secure  practical 
fairness  in  the  results.  Indeed  the  presence  itself 
of  decent  men  in  a  small  crowd  will  check  turbu- 
lence, and  a  courageous  stand  made  for  good 
order  by  them  will  rarely  fail  to  win.  But  if  turbu- 
lence and  fraud  do  destroy  the  fair  expression  of  a 
caucus,  then  a  refusal  to  abide  by  its  results,  and 
the  moral  certainty  that  such  a  refusal  will  be  per- 
severed in,  will  act  powerfully  as  a  preventive  of 
that  evil.  But  fac'*ons  and  rivalries  cause  in  the 
main  turbulent  and  fraudulent  caucuses.  They, 
however,  must  have  the  aid  of  the  respectable 
members  of  the  party  to  make  headway.  And 
if  the  best  men,  who  complain  they  cannot  attend 
a  caucus  because  of  turbulence  and  fraud,  them- 
selves form  factions  or  support  them  when  formed, 
there  seems  to  be  little  remedy  for  the  evils  so  con- 
stantly denounced.  That  all  men  may  attend  a 
caucus  without  loss  of  self-respect  is  certainly  clear, 
but  it  is  not  clear  tj^at  the  best  may,  if  they  pro- 
mote faction,  and  push  its  fortunes.  And  if 
"  good  "  men  would  maintain  "■  self-respect  "  by 
properly  performing  their  share  of  political  work, 
at  the  time  and  place  the  *'  bad  "  perform  theirs, 
and  which  they  perform  so  effectively  as  to  cause 
the  former  to  complain  of  them,  the  dawn  of  the 
political  millennium  would  soon  appear  above  the 
horizon. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

CONDUCTING   A   CAUCUS. 

A  CAUCUS  In  session  should  be  conducted  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  that  usually  govern  all  delib- 
erative bodies,  otherwise  it  would  be  impossible 
to  obtain  much  satisfactory  work  out  of  it.  As  it 
is  a  primary  body  called  into  being  by  the  volun- 
tary act  of  those  present,  there  is  no  one  author- 
ized to  act  as  chairman  or  presiding  officer,  and 
some  one  should  be  selected  to  perform  that  duty. 
This  may  easily  be  done,  and  in  a  methodical 
manner.  At  the  hour  appointed  for  the  assem- 
bling the  caucus  and  electors  being  present,  a 
member,  usually  one  of  the  local  committee,  if 
there  is  one,  otherwise,  some  well  known  resident 
of  the  district,  rises  and  may  say : — 

"  Gentlemen,  it  is  the  hour  for  organizing  the 
caucus;  you  will  please  be  ceated  and  come  to 
order." 

Upon  which  all  present  will  cease  other  business 
and  give  their  attention  to  the  speaker,  who  may 
further  say  : — 

"  Gentlemen,  it  Is  necessary  a  chairman  should 
be  chosen  ;  will  some  one  nominate  one  of  our 
number  for  that  position  ?  " 
7  97 


q8  the  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

One  or  more  names  will  be  announced,  and  the 
speaker  will  proceed  :  *'  I  first  heard  the  name  of 

Mr.  and  will  put  his  nomination  to  vote ;  are 

you  ready  for  the  question?".  No  dissent  being 
heard   he   proceeds :    **  All  who    are    in   favor   of 

Mr. serving  as  chairman  will  please  say  aye." 

The  ayes  having  voted  he  will  then  say,  '*  All  op- 
posed will  say  no."  The  noes  having  voted  he  will 
declare  the  result.  But  if  the  vote  is  so  close  he 
cannot  well  decide  it,  he  will  so  state,  and  ask  all 
present  to  be  seated,  and  then  say,  "  All  in  favor 
of  the  nominee  will  rise  and  stand  to  be  counted." 
Which  done,  he  will  state  the  result  and  request 
all  again  to  be  seated,  and  then  ask  those  opposed 
to  rise  and  stand  and  be  counted;  and  will  also 
declare  the  result.  If  there  is  a  tie  he  will  so 
state,  and  then  vote  himself  in  favor  and  declare 
th-e  nominee  elected  or  will  not  vote  and  declare  it 
lost,  and  then  take  the  next  name  in  order  of 
those  he  heard  nominated  and  proceed  with  it  as 
before,  and  so  on  until  a  chairman  is  selected. 
Upon  the  announcement  of  the  vote  that  decides 
the  choice  of  chairman  the  speaker  may  then  say, 

''  Gentlemen,  Mr.  has  been  chosen  chairman 

of  this  caucus.  He  will  please  come  forward  and 
take  the  chair."  The  gentleman  so  elected  will 
directly  comply,  and  the  person  so  far  acting  will 
take  his  seat  among  the  electors. 

The   chairman  will   now  conduct    the  business 


CONDUCTING  A  CAUCUS.  gg 

and  may  say,/'  Gentlemen,  it  will  be  well  to  elect 
a  secretary.  If  this  is  your  pleasure  some  one  will 
nominate  a  person  to  act."  Nominations  being 
made  the  chairman  will  proceed  with  them  as 
before  was  done  in  choosing  the  chairman.  The 
secretary  being  chosen,  the  chairman,  or  some 
one  he  shall  call  upon  to  do  so,  will  state  the  busi- 
ness that  the  caucus  is  to  perform.  If  this  is  well 
enough  known  the  chair  may  simply  state,  "  Gen- 
tlemen, the  caucus  is  fully  organized.  What  is 
your  further  pleasure?"  He  will  now  entertain 
all  such  motions  as  are  made  germain  to  the  busi- 
ness to  be  done  and  put  them  to  vote,  declare  the 
result  of  each  vote,  and  generally  direct  and  expe- 
dite the  business  of  the  session. 

If  delegates  are  to  be  chosen  by  ballot  or  nomi- 
nations made  for  local  offices,  tellers  to  assist  the 
secretary  are  generally  selected  by  the  chair, 
though  the  caucus  may  vote  to  have  tellers  and 
also  select  them  ;  but  if  the  caucus  does  not  direct 
otherwise  the  chair  selects  suitable  persons  to  per- 
form that  duty.      He  may  do  so  by  simply  saying, 

''  Mr.  E and  Mr.  F ,  will  you  please  act 

as  tellers."  If  they  decline  he  may  select  oth- 
ers. Tellers  being  selected  the  chair  may  state, 
''Gentlemen,  you  are  to  choose  delegates  to  at- 
tend the  (township  or  ward,  as  the  case  may  be) 
convention."  Or  if  to  nominate  candidates  for 
local  office  he  will  so  announce,  and  then  state, 


lOO  7'^^  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

**  Gentlemen,  you  will  please  nominate  your  candi- 
dates." Time  being  given  for  this  purpose,  which 
may  be  improved  to  advantage  by  those  desirous 
of  choosing  fit  men,  the  chair  will  then  further  say, 
"  Gentlemen,  this  is  an  informal  ballot.  You  will 
please  come  to  the  secretary's  table  and  deposit 

your  ballots  for "  (stating  what).    The  tellers 

will  receive  the  ballots  and  the  secretary  will  take 
down  the  name  of  each  voter.  A  right  of  challenge 
always  exists  and  may  be  exercised  now.  When 
made,  it  is  to  be  determined  by  the  tellers  and 
secretary,  from  whose  decision  an  appeal  lies  to  the 
caucus.  The  chair  takes  note  of  the  appeal,  states 
the  grounds  of  the  challenge,  and  submits  it  to  the 
vote  of  the  electors  as  he  would  any  other  matter. 
If  a  statute  directs  an  oath  to  be  administered  in 
such  cases,  that  being  tendered  to  the  challenged 
voter  and  taken  by  him  closes  out  the  challenge, 
and  his  brjlot  is  received  and  counted.  But  in 
absence  of  a  statutory  oath  the  challenge  is  re- 
ceived and  determined  as  before  stated.  While 
the  challenge  is  pending  the  voting  ceases,  to  be 
renewed  on  its  being  disposed  of. 

All  the  electors  appearing  to  have  voted,  as  a 
cautionary  matter  the  chair  will  say,  **  Have  all 
voted  ?  "  A  brief  pause  to  observe  whether  there 
are  any  more  votes  to  be  cast,  he  will  continue, 
''  You  will  please  count  the  ballots."  Upon  which 
the  tellers  will  proceed  to  make  the  count,  which 


CONDUCTING  A  CAUCUS,  lOi 

will  be  recorded  by  the  secretary,  and  on  the  di- 
rection of  the  chair  read  to  the  house.  If  the 
number  of  the  ballots  cast  fails  to  agree  with  the 
list  made  by  the  secretary  it  is  usual  to  take  an- 
other ballot,  and  to  prevent  mistake  the  secretary 
may  call  the  list  and  the  voter  deposit  his  vote  as 
his  name  is  called.  If  any  name  has  been  omitted 
it  may  now  be  added.  When  the  roll  is  called 
through,  the  ballots  are  counted  and  the  result  de- 
clared. If  no  one  has  a  majority  another  ballot  is 
taken,  and  so  on  until  a  majority  of  the  votes  are 
ofiven  to  the  same  man. 

After  the  secretary  has  made  one  list  of  those 
voting  at  the  caucus  he  is  not  required  to  make 
another,  only  noting  on  the  one  already  made  the 
depositing  of  the  ballot  by  the  elector  listed.  An- 
other way  is  sometimes  practised  in  localities 
where  every  one  is  known  by  sight.  It  is  for  the 
secretary  to  pronounce  aloud,  for  all  to  hear,  the 
name  of  the  person  voting  as  he  offers  his  ballot, 
the  tellers  not  depositing  the  ballots  so  rapidly 
but  a  challenge  may  be  interposed  if  intended  to 
be.  But  a  written  list  is  preferable.  This  can  be 
retained  for  future  reference,  and  the  secretary  may 
so  preserve  the  vote  that  it  may  show  not  only  the 
number  of  ballots  taken  but  each  man  voting  at 
each  ballot.  When  all  the  delegates  are  chosen  or 
all  the  candidates  nominated,  as  the  case  may  be, 
the  secretary  will  make  up  a  report  or  record  of 


I02  THE  AMERICAN  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 

the  proceedings,  briefly  setting  forth,  but  preserv- 
ing accuracy  and  clearness,  the  business  that  has 
been  done,  to  be  signed  by  himself  and  the  chair- 
man. 

This  report  he  will  give  to  the  chairman  of  the 
delegation  or  to  a  delegate  chosen,  to  be  by  them 
presented  to  the  Committee  on  Credentials  of  the 
convention  to  which  they  are  elected.  It  is  the 
certificate  of  their  election  and  their  authority  to 
appear  at  the  convention  as  representatives  of  the 
caucus.  In  case  of  nominees  for  office  the  record 
is  given  to  one  of  them  and  is  their  authority  for 
appearing  on  the  party  ticket. 

The  following  forms  may  serve  for  calling  and 
reporting  the  proceedings  of  the  caucus  : 

A  CAUCUS. 

A  caucus  of  the  electors  of  the 

will  be  held   at  on 

instant  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  delegates 
to  attend  a  to  be  held  on  the 

at 
A  general  attendance  of  the  electors  is  expected. 
Dated,  A.  B.,  Committee, 

In  case  the  caucus  is  called  to  nominate  candi- 
dates for  office,  that  should  be  inserted  in  the  no- 
tice in  pl^ce  of  the  words  *'  selecting  delegates  to 
attend,"  etc. 


CONDUCTING  A  CAUCUS.  103 


REPORT    OF    THE    PROCEEDINGS. 

At  a  caucus  held  at 

on  the  A.  B.  was  chosen  chairman, 

and    C.    D.    was    chosen    secretary.      There   were 
electors  present.      Upon  balloting 
for  delegates  to  attend  the  conven- 

tion to  be  held  at  on 

the  following  named  gentlemen  received  a  major- 
ity of  all  the  votes  cast  and  were  duly  elected,  viz,: 
Messrs.  T.  D.,  G.  H.,  etc. 

C.  D.,  Secretary,  A.  B.,  Chairman, 

The  foregoing  directions  are  brief  and  will  serve 
the  purposes  of  a  small  body  of  men,  for  which 
they  are  intended.  Large  caucuses  are  not  de- 
sirable, and  should,  where  practicable,  be  avoided. 
Our  country  is  getting  too  populous  to  gather  all 
the  electors  of  a  very  considerable  extent  of  ter- 
ritory into  one  caucus.  Densely  packed  rooms, 
with  little  opportunity  to  see  and  hear  what  ought 
to  be  seen  and  heard,  cause  much  of  the  unfairness 
complained  of.  Relief  must  be  sought  in  that  di- 
rection which  best  accords  with  the  nature  of  the 
institution  itself ;  wherefore  make  the  caucus  to 
accommodate  the  number  of  electors  and  resort  to 
representation  in  conventions  for  large  territory  or 
dense  population,  the  watch-word  being,  **  Ever}^ 


I04 


THE  AMERICA J\r  CAUCUS  SYSTEM. 


elector  to  unite  in  caucus  with  his  neighbor,  to  be 
represented  in  a  convention ;  to  nominate  men  for 
public  office — the  legislator  to  make  the  laws,  the 
executive  to  execute  them,  the  judge  to  point  out 
their  application." 


INDEX 


Abimelech,  26. 
Adams,  John,  2,  4,  40. 
Adams,  John  Q.,  49. 
Adams,  Samuel,  3,  4,  82. 
Advice  of  an  old  politician,  32. 
Anecdotes  of — 

"        Buchanan,  Jas.,  50. 

"        Crocket,  David,  57. 

*'        Cruger,  "  Ditto,"  48. 

'*         Livingston  Family,  27. 
Throop,  Gov.  of  Ga.,  5. 

Ballots,  Burning  of,  70,  71. 
Burke,  Edmund  47,  50,  60. 

Cass,  Lewis,  50. 
Caucus — 

"  Adoption  of  the  word,  4-8. 

"  Attendance  upon,  a  duty,  79,  81,  87,  90,96. 

"  Calling  of,  102. 

"  Control  of,  by  statute,  91. 

"  Conducting  one,  97-103, 

"  Debate  upon,  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  6,  39. 

"  Discussion  at,  81. 

"  Early  use  of,  25,  26,  29. 

"  Growth  of  the  system,  64-77. 

"  Limitation  of,  as  to  numbers,  94,  103. 

"  Measures,  not  men,  32. 

"  Origin  of  the  word,  1-4,  9,  30. 

"  Proceedings  in,  75,  96. 

"  Scenes  at,  2,  8^. 

"  Turbulence  at,  suggestions  on,  94, 

"  Voluntary  nature  of,  93. 

105 


I06  INDEX. 

Citizens,  Duty  of,  88,  90. 

Clay,  Henry  58,  61. 

Clergymen,  etc..  Duty  of,  90. 

Clinton,  George,  control  of  N.  Y.,  67,  74. 

Colonies,  American,  18,  65, 

Connecticut,  The  plan  of  choosmg  an  executive,  66. 

Conventions,  Political,  75,  76. 

Cooley,  Thomas  M.,  Views  of,  78- 

"  Counting  out  "  Jay,  69. 

Democrat  party,  75. 
Dickens,  Sketch  from,  54. 

Edinburgh  Statesman,  Sketch  from,  55. 
English  System,  46. 

Fable  of  the  frogs,  9. 
Federalists,  Federals,  36,  39,  40. 

Germans,  ancient  customs,  12. 
Gladstone,  William  E.,  47. 
Government,  Oldest  representative,  23. 

Israel,  Tribes  of,  10. 

Jay,  John,  68,  70,  73. 
Jotham,  Allegory  by,  27 

Kings,  Divine  right  of,  23. 

Lincoln,  A.,  59,  61. 

Listing  the  electors,  95,  100,  loi. 

London  Times,  Extract  from,  7. 

Macaulay,  Thomas  B,,  47,  53,  60. 
May,  Charles  S.,  Views  of,  91. 
Mizpah,  Election  at,  11. 

New  York  caucus  and  conventions,  68,  75. 
Nominations,  self,  and  caucus  compared,  45-63. 
Nominees,  Presidential,  75-6. 

"        Self-discussed,  45,^61. 

"        Scenes  on,  50,  55,  57,  59. 


INDEX. 


107 


Parliament,  Nature  of,  48. 
Parties,  Cause  for,  32,  41-3. 
Political  power,  how  directed,  21-44. 

"        Clubs,  92, 
Plymouth  Colony,  19. 
Principles,  Longevity  of,  41. 

Representatives,  Instructions  to,  48. 

Republican  party,  36. 

Rhode  Island  plantations,  18,  19,  21. 

Tennessee,  Resolutions  of,  5. 
Tory  party,  33. 
Town-meetings,  16,  22,  80. 


Williams,  Roger,  13. 
Wishard,  Rev.  Dr.,  Views  of,  9a 
Whig  party,  33. 


TKIVERSITl 


/ 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OP  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 

^^Ae&      14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


tGAfcl- 


,4QjOH_tfTERR6<Hn 


"TJ" 


REG.  CajfiN  is  78 


mmm- 


> I  T  :u.>.^ 


^f  >®  ...iJ 


U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDbl33bQbM 


•^ 


SOt532. 


•.y«  i%^ 


